1 The Concert Heist
by bettyloupete
Summary: This is a story to continue the lives of the Cahill kids. It takes place after all of the "Mission" series. It is true to canon so Amy is with Jake and not Ian. They go off to college and are recruited to recover stolen art. A word of warning, the kids are growing up and heading to college, so M for a reason. I love reviews; please leave one! Thanks for reading-you are the best!
1. Prologue

Prologue

_Off the Coast of Maine, moments after the end of _Flashpoint

_"Ten seconds!"_

_Light dawned on Amy. "The book!" She snatched the computer away from Cara and typed: HOPEOLIVIA._

_There was no response from the tablet, and for a horrible instant, Amy wondered if the screen might have frozen. Then a ping sounded and a message appeared:_

_DETONATION ABORTED_

_SYSTEM RESET_

_The countdown clock was halted at 0:02._

_J. Rutherford Pierce, the man who had very nearly been president, laid his head in his hands and wept like a heartbroken child._

30 minutes later Pierce and his men had been loaded onto several Coast Guard vessels followed closely by FBI agents. Galt had been remanded to his mother's care and she was being interviewed by the media. Amy and Jake had both been seen by EMT's and while Jake was released, Amy had been put on a gurney and given and IV and oxygen. She was severely dehydrated and was suffering from extreme exhaustion. To tell the truth, Amy felt like she could sleep for days. Jake refused to leave her side, so had Dan. Both boys hovered just a short distance away, waiting for the oxygen mask to be removed so they could talk to her. She was grateful for the forced quiet, she needed her mind to silence itself after her week-long hyper-alert state.

An EMT came to check on her, the IV was nearly empty and Amy felt more alert and awake than she had before. "You're free to go, miss" the EMT said. As soon as Jake and Dan saw this, they were at her side instantly. "Though, you need sleep and drink as much water as you can handle. It's going to take you some time to revive from your ordeal."

"Thank you, I will." Amy said, Jake supporting her under her arms as she stood.

He turned toward her, his eyes a mixture of relief and concern, "Are you OK?"

"Yes, I think so, but I am very tired, he was right about that. I could sleep for days." Amy replied.

"Amy, thank God you're alright." Dan said, hugging his sister around the middle, squeezing tight. "I don't know what I would have done if you didn't make it."

Amy put her arms around her brother and squeezed back, but looked up at Jake silently. Only he knew what really happened on that plane. She could tell he was trying to hold something back; his eyes were tight and he kept his mouth a firm line. They had a lot to discuss when they got back to Attleboro.

"Yeah, Dan, I made it. Thanks to Jake. If he hadn't been there, I don't know what would have happened." Amy knew she hadn't given herself the antidote, she couldn't. Her arms had stopped working. She glanced at Jake again and gave him a smile.

Jake reached over and took her hand, squeezing it. To his surprise, Dan switched from hugging Amy, to giving Jake a quick hug; not too much, they were bro's after all.

"Thanks Jake. You saved my family; she's all I have left." Dan said. Jake went wide-eyed and quickly patted Dan on the back a few times. Jake's serious look vanished, replaced by tenderness at the gesture by the 14-year-old.

"No problem Dan, she's important to me too." Jake said, staring at Amy.

They drove the nearly 3 hours back to Attleboro. Jake walked Amy up to her room and made to tuck her into bed. She knew she had only a few moments.  
"Jake, I—" Amy started, but Jake put one finger over his lips.

"We'll talk about everything once you wake up. You need your sleep." He said.

"You're going to stay?" Amy said with raised eyebrows. "You'll wait for me to sleep?"

Jake scowled, "Of course, I'm not going anywhere." He said as if the idea of him leaving was a foreign concept.

Amy crawled under her covers and as soon as her head hit the pillow, the desire for sleep came on strong. She smiled at him and stuck out her hand to him, "I'm so glad. I thought you'd want to get home, or even head back to Rome."

Jake gave a tiny huff and smiled, "Not just yet, I have to make sure you're okay first. Plus, we have a lot to talk about." He made to turn and walk toward the door, but Amy held his hand fast. He turned back to her.

"Stay with me." She asked, pleading in her eyes.

Jake raised both eyebrows incredulously. He opened his mouth to protest, but Amy beat him to it.

"Just until I fall asleep. Please?" she searched his eyes with her own tired ones.

He relented. He laid down next to her. She, under the covers, he, on top of them. They pressed together with his arm wrapped tightly around her middle, his head nestled in the crook of her neck.

Amy instantly felt sleep wash over her, but there was one thing that had to be said before she drifted off for hours or days perhaps.

"Jake?" she whispered.

"Go to sleep, Amy. It can wait." He whispered in return.

Her thoughts were becoming blurry again and she could feel herself start to drift off. "I didn't mean what I said in Tunis." She said in barely a whisper, "I do love you, I always have and I always will."

With that, she drifted off to sleep, but she could feel Jake tighten his grip around her chest and pull them that much closer together.  
"I know," Jake said to an asleep Amy. "Why do you think I couldn't leave you?"

Amy woke up sometime later, stiff and sore, like she'd run a marathon. She knew it was light out but had no idea what time it was. She noticed a baby monitor on her night stand and looked quizzically at it. _What is that doing here?_ She thought, throwing off the comforter. She was still dressed in her clothes from…how long had she been asleep?

She made her way over to the bathroom, she stripped off her clothes and took the world's longest hot shower. She let the steam reinvigorate her sore muscles. When she was done, she dressed in jeans, an old t-shirt and ran a brush through her wet hair. She was in the middle of brushing her teeth when there was a soft knock on the bedroom door. Jake poked his head around,

"You're awake. Can I come in?" he asked.

Amy spat out the paste from her mouth and motioned him in.

She turned to face him, "how long have I been asleep? And, why is this in my room?" she held up the baby monitor.

"You've been asleep 26 hours, Amy. I was starting to get worried, so, we all decided to get that to keep tabs on you in case you stopped breathing, or something."

_"I've been asleep for 26 hours?!"_ Amy said with alarm.

Jake just nodded.

The events that took place over the previous week flashed through her mind: Dan dangling above the river, Amy taking the serum to save him, Pony falling to his death trying to stop that helicopter, searching for the Tonle Sap Water Snake in Cambodia, almost drowning, making the antidote at Harvard, learning to fly at MIT, flying the crop duster with Jake, and waking up in the Atlantic Ocean just in time to see Jake slip below the surface. She gave a shudder. All of that in one week? How had that been possible? She felt Jake's eyes on her.

"Can we talk?" she asked tentatively.

Jake had wanted to hear nothing but these words ever since he had tucked her in bed the previous day. He and Dan had flipped a coin to see who got to talk to her first, he had won, much to Dan's chagrin.

They silently left the room, side by side and walked downstairs. Amy steered toward the backyard and gardens beyond. Jake snuck a glance over at her. He had played this impending conversation over in his mind and he figured it would go one of two ways. Either she would recant her confession right before sleep, claiming that she had been delusional and emotional and he would leave, never to return, or, he barely dared to hope: she had meant what she said and she really did love him and just had some strange way of showing it due to stress. He had prepared himself for both eventualities, just in case.

Once they were outside, Amy slowed her pace, Jake at her side. She took a deep breath and started in, not looking at him but rather focusing on the pebble path in front of them.

"Jake, I owe you an apology. Actually, I owe you about a million apologies. I'm so sorry for the way I've treated you these last few weeks. You bore the brunt of my stress and anger and that wasn't fair to do to you." She glanced sideways at him and he glanced back, but said nothing. He knew she had far more to say.

"I've been so scared, so scared of losing you that I figured it was better to make you mad at me and live, than have you die because you cared." She looked back at the pebble path, "I couldn't live with myself if anything ever happened to you. I thought that if I pushed you away hard enough, you'd leave, live out your life safe and alive, but all I ended up doing was making both of us so irritated and stressed."

Beside her, Jake gave a small breath and a grin began to creep onto his face. This gave Amy the confidence to say what she'd been holding back. She turned to face him now.

"Jake, the truth is, if you really knew how I felt, you'd have done something stupid to keep me from going off on my own all those times. There is nobody I'd rather fight with, nobody I'd rather be infuriated by or stand beside than you. Dan helped me realize that the greatest things we've ever done, we've done together. That's true for us, too. The greatest things we've accomplished, we've done together, you and me." Amy said misty-eyed.

Jake took her hands, his own eyes tearing up.

Amy wasn't done, "I need you Jake, but more than that, I _like_ you. I like that you always seem to be on the same wave length as me. I like that you constantly surprise me. I like how _ridiculously _smart you are. I like how my well-being is always at the top of your radar-well, second, I guess, right under Atticus'."

Jake smiled, "You're tied for first,"

Amy smiled, "I like how I don't always have to be strong around you. I like that you make me reevaluate my priorities, and Jake, I like how you always love me, even when you say you don't."

Amy stopped speaking and just studied Jake's reaction. He was emotional. His face had gone red and his lower lip was quivering. His tears were about to spill over and she could tell he needed a moment, so she added,

"Oh, and, there is most definitely 'a thing' between us." She added light-heartedly. "I mean, come on, any idiot can see it."

That had done it. Jake's face broke into a wide grin and he sniffed. He wiped at one eye. He wrapped his arms around Amy and pulled her into him.

"I'm so glad to hear you say this. I've been playing out this conversation in my head the last day and a half and I was afraid you were going to say it's over."

"No Jake, It's not over. I don't ever want it to be over." Amy said into his shoulder as he held her tight.

"Then promise me something, right now." Jake said pulling away so he could see her face.

"Anything."

"Promise me you'll start trusting me? I know you don't want anything to happen to me, but Amy, did you ever stop to think about what any of _us_ would be going through if something happened to you?" Jake's eyes volleying between her eyes. "You weren't the only one scared. Watching what that serum was doing to you? Unable to really tell you what I was feeling, knowing you didn't want to hear it? That was the hardest thing I think I've ever had to do. Then, on the plane-do you even remember what happened? Your body just shut down. I barely got the antidote to you before you died! I thought you had! Then, the plane crashed and I was trying to swim for both of us. I couldn't let you drown. I was ready to die with you rather than let you go."

Jake looked down and closed his eyes momentarily. Amy could feel his raw emotion. He was laying his soul bare, asking her a question that no one else would ever be asked by him. This was a level of intimacy they needed to reach if they had any hope at a future.

He looked up at her with determination in his eyes. "No more secrets between us. Total trust. It's the only way forward."

Amy studied his somber look and took a breath. He was asking her to do the hardest thing in the world; trust him completely. "You got it. I'm in. Total trust between us, from now on. No more secrets. No more hiding behind fear. We're in this together, no matter what comes, we'll face it together. That's what love requires, isn't it? Total trust?"

Jake's somber face slowly, slowly, changed into a grin. "Love is total trust. Unequivocal."

"Then I love you, Jake. Unequivocally." Amy said her own grin starting to sneak onto her features.

He dipped, picked her up around the waist and lifted her in the air so their faces were level. "And I love you, just like I always have and can't wait to, in the future; our future."

He kissed her and she kissed him back. It was the first kiss either of them had exchanged in half a year. It felt at once both new, and familiar. She wanted to stop time and stay like this with him forever. She breathed in his familiar scent and it felt so comforting, so peaceful. Goosebumps formed on her skin despite the warm air around them.

Jake was experiencing similar reactions to his newly-reinstated girlfriend. As he lifted her, the warm May air blew her hair around their faces and the strands tickled his neck. It was wonderful. The smell of her, the feel of her in his arms, it was perfect. He didn't want this feeling to ever end.

As he slowly set her back on her feet, an idea that had been percolating in the back of his mind made its way to the forefront. "Amy, I've been thinking, what if we all took some time off? You and Dan have both mentioned that you want to quit the family and, well, Att and I have been through a lot in the last two years."

Amy looked at him thoughtfully, "I've been thinking about this a lot. I told myself that if we managed to find the antidote and get rid of Pierce, Dan and I would disappear for a year; maybe longer, travel to some place where we could stop being 'Cahills' and just be two teenagers. Maybe go back to Meena Lapa, or somewhere quiet."

Jake smiled, "I was thinking something similar for Att and me. We never really had time to get over mom's death, then all this with the Vespers and Pierce happened. I think we've earned some time off too. Maybe we can meet up with Dad and help him, or just travel Europe, maybe backpack across the Alps?"

Amy smiled at him and turned toward the mansion, "then it's a plan," but Jake stopped her.

He pulled her back toward her and had a knowing smile on his face. "I'm not quite done with you. I've waited months to do this," he said linking her hands behind his head and snaking his arms around her waist. Together they stood in the shade of Amy's favorite oak tree and kissed.


	2. Chapter 1

Ch 1

_Boston, Massachussetts- 12 months later_

Jake Rosenbloom's plane touched down at Logan Airport. He was home. 20-year-old Jake and his 13-year-old brother Atticus had decided it was time to come home and start back to college at Harvard. Even though Jake was old enough to be a junior, he enrolled as a sophomore, having taken the last semester off to be with his father and to travel Europe with his brother. Any normal 13-year-old would be entering 8th grade, but Atticus was enrolling as a freshman after he finished high school in his spare time. Atticus was a bonified genius with a 200 IQ. Jake had another reason for wanting to come home however, his girlfriend, 18-year-old Amy Cahill. Jake met Amy two years earlier when fate brought them together to defeat the Vespers. Jake and Amy didn't exactly have instant chemistry; their love was a slow simmer. They hated each other when they first met, so much in fact, Jake had turned her and her younger brother, Dan, in to Interpol for stealing a priceless Caravaggio and Amy had kicked Jake, hard, in the ribs to get away from him. However, it became clear to Jake within a few weeks that Amy was something else entirely.

She was the head of the most powerful family on the planet and she had a real knack for leadership; something Jake found attractive. Not that Amy wasn't pretty, she was, with reddish brown hair and green eyes, but it was more the whole package for him. Her peerless confidence and ability to seriously kick-butt were a real turn on for him, he had to admit. They had never lived on the same continent, much less the same time zone. He closed his eyes and pictured Amy's smile, imagined her in his arms, drinking in her scent.

He must have lost himself in the imagery, because the next thing he knew, his name was being repeated and someone was slapping his knee.

"Jake, Jake…earth to Jake?"

Jake turned to his seatmate, Atticus. "I asked you which Boston specialty you are going to have first now that we're home?" Jake didn't answer right away, still thinking about Amy.

"Uh, I don't know Att, how about you decide and we'll get one before we leave the airport," Jake said smiling at his little brother.

Atticus was really the closest friend he had these days and he was very fond of him. He reached over and tugged on one of his dreadlocks.

"I know what you're thinking about," Atticus said with a small smile.

"Oh yeah, what?" Jake said with mock surprise on his face.

Atticus smirked, "Aaammmyyyy!" he said mischievously.

"Guilty as charged," Jake admitted with aplomb.

Atticus looked a bit shocked, "You admit it? Do you llooovvveee her?" Atticus said with teasing in his voice. He couldn't imagine ever wanting to kiss a girl, much less admitting that he loved one.

Jake laughed, "You know Att, that's not the insult you think. I promise you," Jake said clapping his hand on his brother's shoulder, "there will come a time when you'll be ready to shout your love for someone from the rooftops."

"And that's you?" Atticus asked Jake with skepticism.

"You bet." Jake said, standing to deplane.


	3. Chapter 2

Ch 2

Amy and Dan were waiting outside gate 15 as eagerly as they could without jumping up and down. They hadn't seen Jake and Atticus since New Year, though they had texted almost daily. Jake had taken the last two weeks to be on a dig in Indonesia with his famous archeologist father, Dr. Mark Rosenbloom, a man who was very respected the world over, but who hated Amy and Dan Cahill. He had a merited hatred of the entire Cahill family due to his suspicions that his wife, Atticus' mother, Astrid had been poisoned by Damian Vesper, the psychopath who was out to destroy the Cahills. He didn't want either of his sons getting mixed up with the likes of Amy and Dan.

She could understand why, after dealing with the Outcast, aka, Nathaniel Hartford, her grandfather, Amy wasn't so sure she wanted to have anything to do with the Cahill family either. Amy had tried extremely hard to dissuade Jake from pursuing a relationship with her for this very reason, but Jake wasn't having it. He loved Amy in spite of her family and he had become her rock, her stronghold and her best friend.

If it hadn't been for Dan, she would never have met Jake. Dan and Atticus were best friends and were online gaming buddies. Early into their hunt for the Vespers, Dan had contacted Atticus to help solve a riddle with his knowledge of Latin. That had led to them inadvertently meeting at the Colosseum and starting the beginning of their friendship. They had fought hard alongside the Cahill family to defeat them and had proven their loyalty to them and had been welcomed as honorary Cahills.

Amy couldn't help thinking that one day Jake would be a full-fledged member of the Madrigal branch if they got married. This thought made her blush scarlet. She loved Jake desperately and he really did complete her. He was the strength she needed. He had proven over and over again that he was there for her. It had been hard for her to learn to trust him; her previous boyfriend had gotten killed because of his involvement with her. She felt directly responsible for his death even though he made the decision of his own free will.

Evan. Her first love. She'd had a crush on him since freshman year and it took her almost two years before she worked up the nerve to talk to him. Turns out, he was as crazy about her as she was of him. He had proven a valuable asset in the battle against the Vespers. The problem was the more time she spent with Jake, the more she fell in love with him. She was spared having to choose between them as Evan was fatally shot just as the Vesper device was being destroyed. She would never forget holding him as he bled out in her arms. He was her first love and she would always have a soft spot in her heart for him. As much as Amy loved Evan, Jake was her soul mate. What she felt for him was entirely something else; their love was for all time, not a high school infatuation or teenage love. What they had was real, lasting and permanent.

Dan was the first one to spot them coming out of the tunnel, "Atticus!" Dan shouted and began to run for the gate. Amy felt the eager feeling of anticipation growing inside her and she couldn't stop her feet from running. She spotted his perfectly disheveled brown hair among the passengers and she began to pour on the speed in earnest. A giant smile spread across her face then she was in his arms. They wrapped tightly around her and lifted her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he instinctively put his hands under her to support her. A surge of longing coursed through her. Then he was kissing her. The whole rest of the airport disappeared and it was just the two of them.


	4. Chapter3

Ch 3

"Yo, love birds, you're humiliating us," Dan said while sticking a finger down his throat. Dan liked Jake a lot, but he didn't want to see his sister wrapped around the guy. Gross.

Someone bumped into them and said over his shoulder, "get a room!"

Jake pulled away from Amy's lips and fixed his gaze on her. She returned the look just as fierce.

"I _missed_ you," Amy said.

"I missed you more," Jake said releasing her and she slid to the ground. They turned to walk after Atticus and Dan, Jake slipping his arm around Amy's waist while shouldering his bag on the opposite side. Amy wound her hand around his back and hooked her first two fingers into his back pocket. She rested her head on his shoulder and let his warmth fill her up.

"I want to get cannoli," Atticus said out loud running for the nearest vendor.

"Oh man, fried clams for me," Dan said taking off after him.

Amy and Jake hung back, arms around each other's' waists. Jake leaned over and kissed her hair breathing in her shampoo smell.

Amy looked up at him. "I can't believe you're standing here. We get to live 50 minutes away from each other this whole year. We get to see each other all the time."

His movie-star smile shined back at her. "Well, I figured it was time for us to give this relationship a real chance. We have a lot of catching up to do." He gave her a quick squeeze.

Atticus and Dan came back carrying their fried goodness with looks of deep satisfaction on their faces.

"Let's go home." Amy said and lead the way to the car.

Amy drove them back to Attleboro and during the entire hour and a half ride, Jake and Amy played with each other's hands in the front seat while Dan and Atticus played and goofed around in the back. It made Amy smile to see them be kids with each other. Dan was 15 now and Amy had hoped he could still have a playful side to him. He had been through so much. Somehow, being around Atticus brought out the kid in him. Amy watched him in the rearview mirror and smiled.

When they got home, they ordered a pizza and all stretched out in the family room. Amy wanted to hear how things had gone in Indonesia with their father. Secretly, she wondered if Mark Rosenbloom's attitude toward them had changed at all. Surely, he couldn't hate them so much if _both _of his sons sang the Cahill's praises.

"So, we went with dad to Angkor Wat," a smile spreading on Jake's face remembering their visit to Angkor Wat a year before. "He was remarkably impressed by how we knew our way around."

"Yeah, and he was really impressed that we knew about the underground room at Ta Keo" Atticus interjected. "Even he didn't know about that."

Amy simply smiled, she loved being back together, all four of them. Of course, she loved Jake, but, she loved the four of them in a different way. They had done so much together and they knew each other so well. There was a level of trust amongst the four of them like that of a family. _We're the Cahill-Rosenbloom family and we always will, _Amy thought.

Dan must have had the same thoughts running through his head, "Does your dad still hate us as much as he did in Turkey?"

Amy and Dan exchanged one of their knowing glances. He knew Amy was worried about what Dr. Rosenbloom thought, especially if things kept going so well with Jake.

Atticus looked at Jake. Jake looked momentarily unsure, then confidence took over. "We're working on him. We were able to explain a lot of things to him, including about the guardianship from Astrid and about Damian Vesper being Dave Speminer."

Jake looked at Amy apologetically, as if to ask for forgiveness instead of permission. "He needed to know Ames."

Amy nodded. He did need to know. "How did he respond?" She asked.

"He was understandably upset, but he told me that he had his suspicions that Astrid was mixed up in something bigger than herself and that he never felt right about Dave. He wasn't thrilled that Att and I were there when Dave, well, imploded into his machine, but we explained how all the Cahills worked together to defeat the Vesper organization and none of it remains. We didn't tell him about Evan, Natalie or Isabel Kabra. No need to tell more than he needed to know."

"So, what's his view of Amy and me now?" Dan asked.

"He's lukewarm," Atticus said. "He's glad mom's killer has been served justice, but…" Atticus trailed off and looked at Jake.

"But, he thinks the Cahills are unhinged and dangerous." Jake said honestly, but with a cringe in his voice.

Dan added, "He's not wrong," thinking about Nathaniel Hawthorne, whom all the Cahill younger generation had defeated earlier this summer. Amy was back in charge of the Cahill family but had decided to limit her term to 4 years. Then someone else had to take over.

"We'll just have to win him over with time," Amy said with determination. "I'd think we were unhinged too if I knew about the Vespers, Pierce's slanders and anything else he may have caught wind of lately."

Jake looked resolute, "now that we're home, his stress level is bound to be lower, and he's decided to come home more and be a visiting lecturer. It'll give us time to introduce you to him slowly."


	5. Chapter 4

Ch 4

Jake and Atticus spent the weekend in Attleboro. It was the best reunion. All four of them were together but without the threat of being shot, stabbed, chased, kidnapped or publicly humiliated on TV. Amy made them a giant breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausages and toast. They must have eaten two dozen eggs; she had forgotten how hungry three boys could get! Jake helped her clean up the dishes while the boys ran upstairs to change into their suits. The day was shaping up to be a hot one and they couldn't wait to swim.

"What do you want to do today?" Jake said, bumping his thigh against hers as he rinsed dishes she passed to him.

She had to smile, she really did miss him. "I don't know, spend it with you I guess," she said playfully. "We could go swimming with the boys?"

"Nah, I have a better idea. I want you all to myself today. I think we've earned a little alone time." Jake said smiling as he rinsed the last dish and turned to her. Without bothering to dry off his hands, he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her to him. She could feel wet through her T-shirt.

"What did you have in mind?" she said, taking her equally wet hands and placing them squarely on his chest. Now he had two wet handprints where her hands had been.

He looked down at his shirt, then looked up at her through the tops of his eyelids and gave her his best smolder. "You'll see." Then he kissed her.

Half an hour later, they were in the Mercedes SUV Amy had customized with added security and bulletproof glass. Even though it was a tank, it had a few fun perks too. She had sprung for the top of the line JBL sound system and a huge rear video player. She knew Dan had wanted that. Jake slid behind the wheel and pulled on his Ray-ban sunglasses. He gave his perfect hair a ruffle and looked over at Amy, silently asking her if she was ready. She pulled on her sunglasses, flipped open the sunroof and gave him a thumbs up. Jake hit the 'carplay' button on the wheel and within a few seconds AC/DC came blaring through the car stereo. He gunned the engine and they shot off up the driveway. Amy wasn't sure where they were going, but she didn't care. It was so wonderful to not have to be in charge and just blindly trust Jake to have a plan. The sun was shining, the wind was whipping through her hair and she found herself singing along. She looked over at Jake, he was doing the same thing. He caught her looking at him and he flashed her a smile. He was so gorgeous; it was almost like she forgot how _beautiful_ he was until he was right beside her; she could just study his face all day long.

The funny thing was, Jake was thinking the exact same thing. He loved looking over at Amy, seeing her completely relaxed. She had her hand on the window frame of the car, her hair a complete mess as the wind whipped her brownish-red hair all over her face. She didn't care, she occasionally tried to tame some of it back but it just came loose and whipped around her. She was so pretty. She had delicate features to her face, and when she wasn't trying to save the world she looked angelic. He could make out the curve to her upper lip, her pronounced cheek bones, the ivory of her skin and her deep green eyes. It was the face he dreamt about as he fell asleep each night. He caught her looking at him and he flashed her a giant smile. This summer was going to be so much fun.

Jake headed north on 495 toward Franklin State Forest. He always liked hiking here in the summers when he was in scouts as a kid and he thought he and Amy could spend the day pretty much alone with nature there. He parked the car and Amy looked around,  
"Are we hiking today?" she asked, getting out of the car.

"Partly," he said, getting a blanket out of the back of the car and tucking it under one arm. He grabbed her hand and they made their way to the trailhead.

"I don't think I've ever been here before," Amy said, looking around.

"I want to show you the overlook, it's a longer walk, but, it's pretty remote and we'll be alone," Jake said, giving her a wink. Amy thought she might melt. She gave him a long look, her desire for him was growing stronger. She could keep it in check pretty easily when he was 7 time zones away and they only talked over the phone. So much of Jake was physical; his smiles, nods, winks, and general flirting which didn't come through over a phone line. This summer would be very interesting to see where they ended up by the time school started in the fall.

They hiked for nearly an hour before he stopped suddenly and veered off the path through virgin forest. "Come on, it's this way," Jake said offering her his hand.

"I don't think we're supposed to go this way, there's signs all over saying to stick to the path."

"Just trust me Ames, I've been here before," he said, proffering his hand once again.

Amy put her hand in his and he gently helped her over the worst of the branches and logs blocking their path. If this were anyone other than Jake, Amy would have been afraid she was going to be murdered. They were so far off the path now they couldn't even see it. She slowly followed him. He stopped every few feet to turn around and check to make she wasn't tangled up in brush. He was so gentle with her. He was just like she remembered, he could be so brash and overpowering, but when he wanted to, he was gentle. She had seen him like this with Atticus so many times she lost count. Just when she thought they were going to be lost in the forest forever, Jake stepped out into a tiny clearing bordering the smallest cliff edge known to man. It was only big enough for the two of them, but it was magnificent. Jake stood there overlooking the forest far below them as Amy came to stand next to him.

"How did you find this place?" Amy said in awe, taking in the view of the state park.

"I use to come here with my scout troop when I was a kid. Our leader was a real mountain man and he didn't believe in camping in ready-made sites. One of us found this ledge and he made us clear all the brush around it so we could set up camp. I haven't been back in years. Do you like it?" Jake said unfolding the blanket under his arm and spreading it out in the tiny clearing just barely large enough to hold it.

"I do, this is amazing." Amy said, taking a seat next to him.

Jake's hand came up and caressed her right cheek as he leaned in kissing her. Her right hand found his bicep and let it linger there. The next thing she knew, she was laying back on the blanket with Jake half propped up on his elbow above her. They kissed for a long time, his hand, like a whisper, slowly roving over her body, it was glorious and Amy couldn't get enough. Neither could Jake. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Amy made to sit up and catch her breath. She was afraid if she didn't, things would get pretty serious, quick.

Jake must have been in a trance too; he sat up and stared ahead, but not really seeing. He blinked several times to try and clear his head. Amy gave a big sigh next to him. This struck him as funny and he let out a small sniff. Amy looked over at him and started laughing too.

"I have no idea why I'm laughing right now," Jake said smiling as he looked at Amy. "That wasn't funny at all-it was incredible!"

Amy was giggling now, "I think it's just nervous laughter, I have it too."

Jake leaned back on both hands and hung his head, shaking it while smiling. "That was weird."

Amy leaned back on one elbow, facing Jake. "I'm glad for the giggles, it certainly lightened the mood. It was getting pretty serious around here."

Jake gave her a searching look, "You don't want to get serious with me?" He said with one eyebrow raised.

Amy thought back to how his lips tasted and how his hand had felt as it explored her body and her face blushed red, "That's all I want to do, but I think we better slow down. We've got to pace ourselves. This is the first real time we've been together-ever at least, not without some mad man after us." Amy said with a small smile.

Jake nodded and leaned back on his elbow too. "You're right. We're a marathon, not a sprint."

"Not a sprint." Amy said, staring into his brown eyes. She was getting that feeling deep inside her again. That longing. Jake saw it too. He leaned in to kiss her but Amy beat him to it, she pushed him back on the blanket and now it was her turn to hover over him, locking lips for what seemed like eternity. Jake had both hands free now and they found their way to her butt and up the back of her shirt. After a while, Jake gently pushed Amy off of him.

"What happened to 'not a sprint'?" He said, licking his lips and fixing his gaze on her.

"Right, right," she said pulling herself away from him and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. They both lay on their backs staring at the clouds going by, neither one saying anything.

"I think we better find something to talk about," Jake offered.

"Yeah, good idea," Amy said quickly, completely distracted, "let's find something to talk about."

"I have a question," Jake said, turning his head to look at Amy. "Which, you don't have to answer I guess, at least, not right now, if you don't want."

Amy turned took look at him, curiosity on her features, "What?"

"Did you and Evan-ever…?" Jake spoke haltingly, searching her face for the answer.

Amy's mouth fell open in protest, and her ears began to burn, but then she saw his face. He was serious and not accusatory. He genuinely wanted to know how far she and Evan had gone physically. It wasn't any of his business, but, she figured it would eat him up inside if he didn't know eventually. _Why not just get it over with?_ Amy reasoned with herself.

Now it was Amy's turn to lick her lips. Suddenly her whole mouth had gone dry. "Well, we dated…for a while…" she said, trailing off. She thought back to their time together. They were around each other every waking second it seemed. Most of their dates had been at Grace's mansion as neither of them had their license. Evan lived close enough he could walk over her house. They definitely never took their clothes off in front of each other, but there were a few times they had done a little exploring in the hot tub. She knew she owed it to Jake to be honest, but somehow, she was having a hard time telling him. Amy looked over at Jake. He was looking at her with a neutral expression, but it was one of his intense looks. She had to tell him. "To use the baseball metaphor, I think we made it to third base." Amy said with a swallow.

Jake nodded his head slowly, "ok, ok." He was trying not to picture Evan with his fingers inside of Amy, but that image kept swimming in front of him. _Well, she was dating him when you met her, she had every right to do that with him._ _They did what boyfriends and girlfriends do. It's not like you haven't made it to third base before,_ Jake thought.

As if Amy was reading his mind she added, "but, it's not like we did that a lot. Most of the time it was innocent, just kissing." Now she was curious, "How about you? Surely you've had your share of girlfriends."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jake asked with incredulity in his voice.

Amy sighed, "Oh, come on Jake. You're gorgeous and you know it! I'm sure every girl at your high school was obsessed with you, probably a few women in Rome too, if I were guessing."

"You think I'm gorgeous?" Jake teased.

"You know I do. I tell you all the time!" Amy said exasperatedly.

Jake leaned in, "well, I have to keep up with you." He said kissing her gently.

"You didn't answer my question." Amy persisted.

Jake sighed and pulled away. "Believe it or not, I never really had a steady girlfriend in high school. I went out on dates with girls, but none of them really were my type. I went to prom and homecoming with girls, but…" Jake shook his head. "They all seemed so…dumb" he finished with a small shrug. "Nobody like _you_ at my high school."

"So, you're saying that you getting to second base with me just now was the furthest you've ever gone?" Amy said skeptically.

"I didn't say that." Jake admitted. He was quiet as he fixed his gaze on a rock at his feet. "I've had sex. Once. It was pretty meaningless to me. I had a lot to drink and to be honest, I don't remember a lot."

Amy closed her eyes, processing this information. She knew she didn't have any right to judge Jake on his past behavior, but it still stung. She tried not to picture him on top of some nameless girl. She shook her head. "We shouldn't hold contempt toward each other for our past decisions. What's done is done." She opened her eyes and looked at him.

"Right, we're together now and you're the only one I want the rest of my life. So, let's start fresh and forget about the past." Jake said, making his way over to Amy again. He hooked one arm under her and bent so their noses were touching.

"Right, we start fresh now. You're the one I want Jake, for the rest of my life. Marathon." She finished.

"Marathon" he intoned and then he kissed her.


	6. Chapter 5

Ch 5

Amy had spent the better part of that year hiding out and trying to convalesce her family name from the mud Pierce had put it through. She and Dan had changed their last name to Swift and tried to put the Cahill name far behind them. Nellie had met up with them several times in Europe. She and Sammy were engaged and they were getting married next summer. She was also set to open her flagship restaurant in New York in a few weeks. Their visits had given Amy and Nellie some much needed girl time. Nellie was only 6 years older than Amy, but her advice had always been sage. On one of her visits to Amy and Dan, they had gone on a walk through the streets of Paris and Amy decided to have a frank discussion with her.

_"Nellie, how did you decide when to sleep with Sammy?" Amy had blurted out one day during a walk in the city._

_Nothing fazed Nellie, it was one of the reasons Amy knew Nellie was the right one to ask. "I didn't." Nellie had responded. "He was just so drop-dead gorgeous and we had been through a life and death experience together, I guess I just sort of jumped at the chance once we survived the explosion. Facing death with someone makes you grow up pretty quick I found." Nellie said shrugging. "Plus, I was an adult and so was Sammy, we were crazy for each other, so I didn't really think too hard about it."_

_Amy was quiet for a minute, processing._

_"I take it you and Jake haven't, yet?" Nellie asked with sincerity on her features. No judgement in her voice._

_Amy sighed, "No, not yet." Her eyebrows knit together as she continued, "We never seem to be on the same continent at the same time."_

_"But, I take it you want to?" Nellie asked, again with sincerity. _

_Amy took a deep breath and released it, nodding her head, "Of course, I do! I love him, and I know he wants to."_

_"Well, then do it! Stop thinking about it! You'll need to take some precautions, but that's easy enough. We can get you on the pill right now. It's cheap in the EU." Nellie said_

_Amy knew something Nellie didn't. Jake's mother, Astrid, had been a fierce feminist and she was very open and honest with her oldest son about sex and the magnitudes of it. She had made him swear on his 18__th__ birthday he'd go and get a vasectomy. She had instilled in him that birth control was 100% his responsibility. Later, when he was older, if he wanted kids, he could have it reversed. Jake's dad had whole-heartedly agreed, so, true to his promise to Astrid, that was his birthday present to her, even six months after her death. Amy had been highly impressed by this when Jake told her one night when they had been fooling around. _

_"So, can I ask, was it…did it…" Amy wasn't exactly sure what to ask next. "Was it good, the first time?" Amy asked tentatively, hoping this didn't cross the line for Nellie._

_"No, it wasn't great the first time; but it wasn't terrible, we've definitely gotten better as we get more comfortable with each other." Nellie said, looking at Amy. "You sort of have to coach them on what you like. Sammy is always asking for me to tell him what I like. So, I do. If he tries something I don't like, I tell him. He really likes it when I take charge; he says it is super sexy." Nellie said with a wink._

_Amy smiled, she could imagine Jake's reaction if she took charge. She liked that idea and it made her grin. _

_"He's coming home to start back at Harvard in the fall. I can't wait to see him." Amy's smile faded at the thought of having to wait until the summer to see her boyfriend._

_Nellie slid an arm around Amy's shoulders, "Don't worry, Cahills don't go too long without excitement in their lives, he'll be back before you know it and you can pick up right where you left off."_


	7. Chapter 6

Ch 6

Jake and Atticus went home during the week. They wanted to spend time with their father, but when Friday rolled around, they jumped in the car and made their way to Attleboro for the weekend. Mark Rosenbloom knew his sons were spending all of their weekend time with Dan and Amy, but he didn't stop them. Jake and Att had been working on their father and while he didn't really care much for Amy and Dan, he had gotten over his outright hatred of them. Amy figured he either had to come to terms with his sons' friendships with the Cahills, or ignore it. She wasn't sure which one he had chosen.

Amy looked forward to Fridays more and more. Amy and Jake had spent the better part of June joined at the hip every weekend. They walked all over the grounds together, sometimes having a picnic together. They read to each other under Amy's favorite oak tree that hadn't been damaged by the fire. They swam in the pool with Dan and Att almost every evening. They liked playing chicken with each other; Amy up on Jake's shoulders and Att on Dan's. Sometimes Att would climb on Jake's shoulders and Dan on Amy's, those were the fun games since the boys were more evenly matched. Amy's favorite times however, were her make out sessions with Jake in the family room with some movie on in the background. They would pop on some rom-com and then completely lose themselves in each other and not pay a bit of attention to the movie. They had gone about as far as a couple could go with their clothes on at this point. Nellie's words came back to Amy most evenings and she knew if she gave the slightest sign that she was ready, they'd go for it. She wasn't sure what was holding her back. Jake was truly a gentleman, he never pushed her or forced her to do more than she was comfortable with. There had been several nights where she knew she sent him to bed completely frustrated, but he never complained.

The weekend of the 4th of July, Jake and Att spent the long weekend in Attleboro. The four of them planned a party and invited Jonah and Phoenix who were in town and not touring, Ian and Cara, Ham and his sisters as well as Ted, Ned and Sinead, even Nellie and Sammy came up from New York. It was a regular family reunion. Dan helped Amy string party lights all around the pool and Jake offered to grill kabobs for everyone. By the time the fireworks had ended everyone was in the pool relaxing or lounging around the edge of the pool talking. Ian and Cara were dangerously close in the hot tub and everyone kept a wide circle. Amy occasionally would glance at them and smile. She felt oddly protective of their relationship. She wanted it to work out for them so badly and she had given Ian some advice a few times when his natural Lucian tendencies came out. Cara really was perfect for him. They had both been through hell in their respective ways and both had dysfunctional families. They relied on each other. Ian was learning the fear and exhilaration of trusting another person completely.

Amy was standing off by herself thinking of Ian and Cara when a pair of hands slid around her bare waist and a head came to rest on her shoulder. "I can't help but notice you're watching Ian a lot tonight. Everything all right?" Jake whispered in her ear. Amy set her drink down and spun around to face him, lacing her fingers up in his windswept hair.

"Yeah, everything's great." Amy said taking another step closer to him, their chests were touching now. "I'm so glad he found Cara. I think they're perfect for each other."

Jake got a skeptical look on his face, "Ian and Cara? They fight more than they get along."

"I remember a time you and I fought like that." Amy said, her eyes unmoving from his. "Two Alphas, neither one willing to budge."

Jake scoffed, "As I remember it, you were determined to boss my brother and me around all over Tunisia, Guatemala and Indonesia…oh yeah, and Maine!"

"I was just trying to keep you alive." Amy said staunchly.

Jake rolled his eyes, "Yeah, I remember it a little differently."

"But we're good now, right?" Amy asked with a smile.

Jake hugged her even tighter, "Yeah, we're good now," he gave her a small kiss then leaned in to suck on her ear while whispering, "but we could be even better."

Goosebumps erupted all over Amy's skin and she gave an involuntary shutter. Jake backed up to stare into her face.

"Then let's get better, tonight." Amy whispered to Jake then abruptly turned and walked off to talk to Nellie. As she sat, she eyed Jake who stood stock still with wide eyes staring at her.


	8. Chapter7

Ch 7

After midnight, when all the food and drinks were gone, and everyone had talked until they were hoarse, the guests started dispersing to the various bedrooms and guest house on the grounds. Dan, Att, Jake and Amy were the last to go to bed. The four of them had offered to clean up the final party trash. Eventually, Dan and Atticus headed upstairs to the third floor to their rooms. As soon as they were out of sight, Jake sprang up from his stool in the kitchen and strode over to Amy who was already up out of her chair. Her heart was beating a million miles a second. He crashed his mouth down on hers. His hands came up and gently cupped her face. Amy couldn't breath and her head was swimming. She started toward the back staircase leading upstairs from the kitchen. Jake hesitated, still kissing her, but pushing back on her. Amy's hands slipped to his chest and gently pushed him toward the staircase, all while kissing him.

"Aim," Jake mouthed around her kiss, "are we really going to do this?"

"Mmhhmm," Amy mouthed back.

Jake stopped kissing her and leaned his head back just enough to see her face. He scanned her features intently, looking for any sign of hesitation. She had that fierce, _Amy Cahill_, look; the one that meant business. His concerned face slowly changed into a sly smile. _We really are!_ He thought to himself. He mashed his lips back on hers and began to back toward the staircase as fast as he dared. The climb up the staircase was slow as they stopped every few steps to come together and kiss. When they finally made it to the top of the stairs, Jake bent forward and Amy jumped up into his arms. Jake walked the two of them down the hallway toward the Master Bedroom, continuing their passionate kissing as they went.

Amy reached behind her at the door and swung it open. "Lights at 30%" she spoke to the room. "Security off," she added; nobody needed a live feed in the comm. center of what was about to happen in this room. A single 'ping' sounded somewhere nearby.

"Oh god, I forgot about security, glad you remembered," Jake mouthed into Amy's ear as he walked backward across the palatial room toward the bed.

"Wait a minute, we're both covered in chlorine," Amy said looking down at her swim cover up and bikini. Jake was already out of his shirt and had his hands on the waistband of his trunks. "I think we should shower first," she said with a seductive smile.

Jake's head rolled back and he let out a slow breath. Wet. Naked. Amy. Yes, please. She took off toward the bathroom pulling off her swim cover up as she went. She stepped into the enormous shower and turned on the overhead rain shower head. He had never been in here before. The jets on the wall and the overhead shower were so amazing; the tile was even back lit so none of the overhead lights had to be on.

Amy was standing in the water facing him as he joined her. She slowly reached behind her to unclasp her bikini top, then removed it. Jake reached out and cupped her breasts in his hands. They felt so soft and warm. Amy gently slid her bikini bottoms down until she could kick them off. Jake had to backup a step to really take in all of her beautiful, wet body. He gazed up and down at Amy and gave a guttural moan. "Ames, you are _so_ beautiful." Jake's hands slid to his own waistband and slowly lowered his trunks until he could kick them off. Amy stepped up to Jake, letting the water form rivulets between their bodies. She wouldn't have thought it possible to find Jake any more attractive, but holy-sweet-Jesus, he was jacked, _and hung_. Amy's heart did a flip-flop as Jake began to kiss her in earnest. She didn't want their first time to be in the shower, so she turned and flipped the water off. Jake grabbed two towels but Amy skipped drying herself off and simply wrapped the towel around her hair. As she walked back to the bedroom, Jake couldn't help but watch as she walked away. He smiled, dropped his towel and headed right after her, this was shaping up to be an amazing night.


	9. Chapter 8

Ch 8

Amy and Jake were inseparable after that night. They had six weeks before he needed to start classes, and Amy was going to try and finish high school at semester so she could start college at midterm. With Nellie's oversight from New York and the tutors she hired, she knew she could finish on time. Jake wanted her with him at Harvard. He even suggested they get an apartment together somewhere near campus.

Their days were spent studying for Amy's SAT, language lessons from Jake, picnics on the expansive Attleboro lawn and swimming in the pool outback. Dinner was usually with Atticus and Dan by the pool. All four of them would play games in the water until well after dark.

Nights were spent in ecstasy in Amy's room. They loved exploring each other, learning to trust each other in new and unexpected ways. Amy was learning more about herself than she'd thought possible. Somehow, being this intimate with Jake was opening up new levels of understanding for herself, not to mention learning about him. She had begun to learn what he really liked from her and they had gotten pretty good with all this practice. One of her favorite times at night was when they were both spent, just lying in each other's arms, soft caresses being shared. She knew the definition of 'pillow talk' now. They spoke more freely and blithe at these times dreaming of the future they wanted for themselves.

Atticus was fairly clueless to the new status of his older brother and his girlfriend, but Dan picked up on their change almost immediately. It was subtle things he began to notice. Jake and Amy had a short-hand with each other now. They could finish each other's sentences or they would anticipate what the other needed before they even asked for it. Then, there was the physical touching. Before, they seemed to have their hands on each other all the time, playing with fingers, or touching the small of a back, or hands around waists. Now, it was different. Amy would just plunk herself down on Jake's lap or Jake would hug Amy, with his hands on her rear end. He had taken to kissing her differently, too. He'd pull her hair aside and kiss the back of her neck; that was new. The cincher for Dan though was the day they had both disappeared into the bathroom to change for the pool.

Dan had decided to confront them. He sat outside the bathroom door, he was going to get to the bottom of this.

_I know this probably isn't any of my business, but, I live here too and I want to know what's going on. _When they had emerged wearing suits, ready for the pool, he was waiting.

"Alright, what's going on? You two have been acting different lately. Now, I catch both of you getting dressed in the same small bathroom? How long has this been going on? Are you two…?" Dan couldn't say the word 'lovers', it was just too gross to think about.

Amy looked at her brother with an honest expression; she owed him the truth, "Yes, we are."

Jake laced his fingers around Amy's, "Dan, you knew this was going to happen sometime."

Dan winced, "Let me ask you this, do you want to be in the same house when Atticus starts sleeping with his girlfriend?"

Amy and Jake exchanged a look, they got his point, loud and clear.

"Dan, I was going to talk to you about this soon, but maybe it should happen now," Amy started.

Jake gave her an apologetic smile and said, "I'll go talk to Atticus."

"Dan, I'm going to try and finish high school this semester and start at Harvard next semester. I have to get final approval of course from Harvard, but we have so many Cahill connections I think I can do it. Jake...wants me…to move in with him near campus. I can't make the commute to Cambridge every day." Amy said searchingly.

"So, what are you saying? Are you quitting the family? You want me to take over the Cahill family alone?" Dan said with panic in his voice.

"No, I don't. I will be back here every weekend and I can come at a moment's notice if you need anything. Plus, Fiske is in town as well as Henry Smood."

"Great, so I'm supposed to be comforted in the knowledge that I'll see you every 5 days and two old guys have my back?"

Amy sighed, "Dan, we both knew college was going to change things. Jake and Atticus are both at Harvard, mom went to Harvard, Dad was MIT. If I could go to college and still be in Attleboro full time, I would do it. I'll still be the head of the family, I'll just have to do it from Cambridge."

This statement gave Dan an idea. "Why don't we move headquarters to Cambridge for the college years?"

"What do you mean?" Amy asked quizzically.

"Amy, the college years are going to be a decade or more for us with undergrad, grad school and post-doctorate work between us. Plus, whatever Jake ends up studying after you get married.

Amy blushed. "Nobody's saying anything about getting married."

"But it'll happen eventually. He's as good as a Cahill. You know I'm right. Why not move headquarters to somewhere in Cambridge? And it better not be in some dive apartment near campus. We have a bajillion dollars Amy, you could _buy_ all of campus and still have money."

Amy stopped to really think about this. Finally, she said, "I think we better talk to Jake and Att about this, you're probably on to something Dan."


	10. Chapter 9

Ch 9

"So, you're saying that you want to move the entire Cahill empire an hour North just for the next decade so you can run the family while you're at school?" Jake asked as they all sat beside the pool in loungers. Jake was sitting sideways on his, elbows on his knees leaning forward.

"Basically," Dan said. "It makes sense. It's not practical to make Amy commute every day for years and years, and I don't really want to live in Grace's big house by myself for the next three years, not when the rest of you will all be together in Cambridge."

"This is going to be awesome!" Atticus interjected fairly bouncing on his lounger.

"There's a lot of logistics to work out in the next few months if we're really going to do this." Amy said seriously, beginning to think in earnest.

Jake frowned, "Why not just pass off leadership to another Cahill for the next few years. Wouldn't that be easier?"

"I thought about that," Dan said, "but Amy just regained control and committed to a 4-year term."

"Like a democracy," Atticus added. Amy nodded.  
"It makes sense to move headquarters, but it's a huge undertaking and I'm going to need a lot of help. We don't have time or room to build from scratch, so it'll have to be a retrofit." Amy started, the wheels in her head beginning to spin in earnest. "I can have Cara move everything from the comm center and we can reset 'Gideon' to have a new IP address."

Amy turned and looked at Atticus and Jake, "I think it's a good idea if we set both of you up with space there too. I know your dad's home isn't too far from campus so you can stay whenever you want, or you can stay full time." Amy said, giving Jake a meaningful glance.

"I'll get a hold of Mr. Smood tomorrow to start figuring out legally what we need to do" Jake offered.

"Thanks Jake," Amy said giving him a big smile.

Dan said, "I can alert the cousins to let them know we'll need help. I'm sure Hamilton and Jonah will help with whatever we need. Same with Ian."

Amy gave the three boys a searching look, "Give me your thoughts. What am I missing?"

"What do we do with Grace's house?" Dan asked.

"I think we can ask Fiske to move here for a time." Amy suggested.

Everyone became quiet.

"Uh, guys, this is a good thing, right?" Atticus said slowly smiling at the others. "Can we be super pumped yet? You guys are moving to Cambridge and we can all be together all the time!"

Atticus jumped up and grabbed Dan who stood up and started dancing around. Jake pulled Amy up and they started spinning around too. For a few moments, they looked just like teenagers.


	11. Chapter 10

Ch 10

Plans for finding the right place in Cambridge began in earnest the next day. All the Cahill network came together to find the right house. By the end of the week everyone in the network knew their job and by the end of the second week they had located a potential home. It was in West Cambridge, very large, and remote enough on a dead in street that they could have some privacy for Cahill business.

That was the best they could hope for in the very crowded West Cambridge area.

With a few strings pulled by the Cahill network at Harvard, Amy was granted provisional acceptance on a semester by semester basis until graduation. She started taking her first course that fall. The house had been purchased and serious reconstruction began to turn it into the new Cahill headquarters for the coming decade. It had been proposed that after Amy's tenure as head of the family, it made sense for Dan to take over. The discussion to move headquarters had been met with understanding and enthusiasm by Jonah, Hamilton, Ian, Sinead and Fiske. Fiske even agreed to live at Grace's mansion for the foreseeable future and run things from there if it ever was needed.

Dan continued his lessons with their private tutor at Attleboro and Amy was making the bi-weekly commute to Cambridge every Tuesday and Thursday for her first ever college course; Art History 101. The rest of the week she was cramming for her final year of school jam-packed into a semester.

The Rosenbloom brothers had started classes and were living at home with their father who had surprised them all by introducing them to his new girlfriend (in actuality, not a girl as Atticus had pointed out, but a woman) LaCher Siffrite. Everyone had been floored.

Apparently after her injury at the restaurant, the hospital was trying to reach a next of kin and they reached out to her emergency contacts at Brown. The University pointed them to Astrid Rosenbloom. When they couldn't reach Astrid by cell, they tried other numbers for her and eventually reached Mark. He flew down to Brazil to try and figure out what had happened. LaCher's injuries were severe, but she eventually recovered. However, her ability to speak took much longer as her vocal cords had been damaged. She and Mark had communicated by note for weeks before she had been cleared to go home. It was enough. They had a lot in common it seemed and their shared love of Astrid helped both of them heal. Jake and Atticus said it was the happiest they had seen their father in years. LaCher was at Brown so Mark had decided to return home to lecture at Harvard and spend more time with his entire family, including her.

Jake was waiting for the right time to introduce Amy to his father. He knew the beginning of the semester was a hectic one and it wasn't a good idea just yet. Plus, he wanted to do a bit of 'front loading' on him before he introduced Amy. Now that she had been admitted to Harvard and was moving to Cambridge soon, it made his job a lot easier. He wouldn't have to explain hour-long car rides to see her every weekend anymore. Mark knew Jake loved Amy, but he had deliberately stayed out of Jake's love life so far.

One brisk October Tuesday, Amy left the mansion in Attleboro early to make the drive to Cambridge. She wanted to stop by the house before class to see the progress. They had been working in earnest for three weeks on the house now. The physical moving of walls, doors, replacing windows and painting had been done and now came the technical upgrades. It was to be state-of-the-art just like Grace's mansion. There were even some new advances in video surveillance and communications since Grace's house had been rebuilt that Cara was overseeing. She had promised to give Amy a tour once she returned from her vacation with Ian.

Amy parked the Mercedes along the street and locked it. It was barely 7 am and she was alone on the dead-end street. She opened the quaint iron gate across the entry sidewalk and made to enter the front yard. Something bothered her. She stopped and turned around scanning the street. Nothing. She made a mental note of the cars parked along the street. Nothing out of the ordinary, no drivers lingering behind the wheel. She shrugged it off and went into the house. It was a mess, but looked like it was on schedule. The doors and windows had all been replaced with steel framed bullet proof panels and glass. The air system had been completely replaced and specialized filters had been positioned at each vent to detect odorless gases and a whole-house filtration system had been put on the water at each tap; they couldn't have their air or water being tampered with. The exterior walls had all been retrofitted with steel mesh infused sheetrock to prevent someone from cutting right through the exterior and gaining entry. Amy stopped off in the kitchen and had to smile, Nellie would love this kitchen. Amy had specifically asked the kitchen not to be touched as the previous owner had been a professional chef. It was amazing, gleaming white marble and white woodwork, large professional grade cooktop and oven with industrial hood. Recessed lighting and a big screen along one wall. A wine cellar was attached at one end. It was magnificent.

Satisfied with the progress, Amy made to leave the house. That same eerie feeling came over her as she made her way back to the Mercedes. She was being watched, she just knew it.


	12. Chapter 11

Ch 11

After class, Amy savored her walk across Harvard Yard. The Campus was classical New England and one of the most iconic institutions the world over. The neo-classical brick buildings and the colorful leaves and buzzing intellectual feel surrounding campus gave Amy a high. She also loved that she got to have lunch with Jake every Tuesday and Thursday. She made her way to the student union and found him already sitting at a small table against the windows overlooking Harvard Square. His head was bent over a book, a pencil in his right hand being flipped between each finger with extreme agility. The sun from the October sky slanting across his features, highlighting his gorgeous face, strong jawline and full lips. Just then, he used his left hand to rake through his hair, disheveling it just so. He didn't notice as Amy approached, so she slowed her walk, just absorbing her view. A smile crept across her face as she thought of all they had been through together. It had taken her a long time to accept that he was really in her corner. He was ready to trust her far sooner than she was him. But, in the end, love was all about trust. He had asked her to believe him and so, she did. It was so freeing to fully and completely trust another person.

He must have sensed something because he looked up and spotted her watching him. A smile spread across his face, he rose and took her backpack from her while giving her a kiss.

"Hello gorgeous," Jake said with a smile.

"Right back at you," Amy said returning the smile.

They both sat and Amy was surprised to see lunch already waiting for her. "You ordered?"

"I figured you'd eat just about anything, so I got you a sandwich. More time with you, less time in line." Jake said winking at her.

"You know me so well," she said taking a bite.

"Actually, I was thinking, we've been through hell and back, but there are still a lot of things I don't know about you." He said sinking into his sandwich too.

Amy thought about this, he was right. She and he had not had a traditional courtship. They had fallen in love under duress and extreme conditions, first traveling the globe to stop Vesper One, then to stop Pierce and his goons. Jake had literally saved Amy's life on more than one occasion, but it didn't leave a lot of time for the intimate details of a relationship.

"What do you want to know?" she said smiling.

Jake leaned across the table, "everything."

Amy smiled and shook her head. Did everything he do have to be sizzling?

"Ok, shoot, but then it's my turn," she said raising one eyebrow toward him.

Jake took another bite, thinking, after a moment, he said, "Ok, where were you born?"

Amy's forehead wrinkled, "That's what you want to start with?"

Jake slowly nodded, "at the beginning."

Amy sighed, "Ok, I was born at Mass General. Right here in Boston, so was Dan," Amy added for extra measure.

Jake nodded, "Ok, your turn."

Amy thought, then said, "Tell me something about yourself that I don't know, but I should."

Jake took a deep breath, leaned back in his seat and gave her a searching look, clearly thinking.

She loved the way he looked at her. His deep brown eyes sent a thrill up her spine every time.

"I'm in a band. I play bass. We're called _The_ _Lawn Mowers_." Jake said with a grin.

Amy sat up straight, "you do? I didn't know that!"

Jake lifted his can of soda in a mock toast, "See? This game is valuable."

"Jake," Amy started, then closed her eyes and shook her head, "what can't you do? You're a genius, you speak 7 languages, you're an athlete, you play in a band, and you're a total hottie!" Amy added with flourish.

"Don't forget piano, violin and salsa dancing," Jake added with his trademark smile that made Amy melt.

She blushed, "of course, how could I forget those. When did you have time to learn all of this?" She genuinely wanted to know.

"Well, let's just say I had a lot of time on my own as a kid and not a lot of video games. The Rosenbloom's are long on brains so there was no shortage of academia available to me. Plus, Atticus was a toddler, so, Astrid was pretty busy with him. She managed to carve out some time with just me though. She was a linguist. We played word games in Spanish, Italian, Portuguese. She wanted me to have some link to my mother."

This comment confused Amy. "What do you mean by that?"

"My mother was Portuguese. Astrid thought I should know how to speak it."

"_Your mother_ was Portuguese?" Amy asked.

Jake nodded, "She died when I was a baby. All I have are old photos of her with dad and me" Jake said.

"What do you know about her?" Amy asked

Jake shrugged, "not a lot. She met dad as an undergrad when he went to the University of Lisbon for a semester. She was an art history major, specializing in Renaissance art."

Amy studied his reaction to her question. He seemed to show little emotion; flat.

He continued, "she moved to the states and they got married before grad school. That's about all I know. He doesn't talk about her much."

"How did she die?" Amy asked tentatively.

"She got some sort of aggressive cancer when I was only a few months old and was dead by my first birthday," Jake shrugged. Their light mood around the table had turned somber.

"I'm sorry Jake, I didn't know."

"It's OK, Astrid was mom to me. Almost everything I know and who I am is credited to Astrid. She was phenomenal." Jake said with a sad smile.

"I wish I could have met her. I think I would have really liked her,"

"Astrid would have loved you. You remind me a lot of her. She was such a force to be reckoned with, just like you. She commanded a presence in any room she entered; you both have that in common.

The lunch crowd was thinning as students headed off to their afternoon classes. Amy rose to leave.

"Wait a minute, I'll walk with you." Jake said taking her hand and leading her across the square.

Amy kept looking around trying to shake the feeling she was being watched. There were so many people around that it was hopeless to spot anyone suspicious.

Jake must have sensed her unease, because he asked, "What's going on? You're somewhere else right now, aren't you?"

Amy looked up at him and explained about at the house this morning. He glanced around quickly, but with so many people out and about it was impossible to get a feeling on anyone.

"I have an idea, why don't we sit on that park bench and pretend to make out, you can look over my shoulder for repeats and I'll do the same for you. If we notice anything, we signal each other."

As it turned out, they didn't have to make out very long before they were approached by a middle-aged woman in a beige raincoat.

"Excuse me, but I believe you are both the people I need to find." She said quietly.

Jake pulled away slowly and he and Amy looked up at this woman. She had to be in her late 50's, if not older. What did she want with Amy and Jake? Nobody even knew who they were on campus.

She continued, "I'd like to speak with both of you privately. Come with me."

Before Amy could protest, the woman began walking away toward a low post-modern building a hundred yards from their spot. She looked at Jake, and he looked at her. He shrugged and stood. They began to follow the woman. She led Amy and Jake into the Pusey Library, part of the expansive Harvard Library system. This building Amy had never been to before. The low post-modern building looked out of place amongst the classical New England buildings comprising most of campus.

"This is the antiquities, classics and manuscripts library on campus. It's very famous and I figured right up your alley." She said to Amy. Jake had a frown on his face and she could tell he was about at his limit with this wild goose chase. "You'll have to excuse my informality with you, I will tell you more once we are safely inside with no listening ears," she continued, sensing Jake's growing frustration.

She led them past the entrance lobby and into the collections room. They walked along the South-side wall until they came to a bank of soundproof rooms used for studying. She slid the heavy door open and gestured for them to follow her inside.

"There now, time for proper introductions. My name is Anne Hawley and I am the director of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. You are Amy Cahill, granddaughter of Grace Cahill who commissioned the very library we are speaking in and who's personal collection helped fill these walls and stacks."

She gestured outside the glass panel wall and Amy's gaze followed her. Her mouth dropped open. She couldn't be telling the truth. Grace never mentioned that she had a library commissioned at Harvard. Anne must have picked up on Amy's disbelief so she continued,

"As you leave today, stop off in the vestibule and look at the display case to your right. It will help explain a lot." Anne Hawley then turned to Jake and smiled. "You are Jake Rosenbloom, son of a very dear friend of mine and the one-time collections curator for the Gardner Museum, Bianca Rosenbloom. You look very much like her, especially your eyes."

Now it was Jake's jaw that was dropping. He was in disbelief. "Wait, you knew my mother?"

"Yes, I knew your mother very well. I started at the Gardner museum the same month as your mother. We became good friends and we relied on one another during the unfortunate events of March 1990. I was so saddened by her death. She deserved so much better. She had a new baby and an adoring husband." Anne was quiet for a moment. "Cancer is such a cruel disease."

Jake gave her a small smile. He had now officially doubled his knowledge of his mother.

"What do you mean, 'unfortunate events'?" Jake asked with a frown on his face.

"I know about this!" Amy said. She had read all about the largest art heist in modern history. "13 works of art were stolen at the museum in the wee hours of the morning by two thieves dressed as Boston police officers."

Anne Hawley nodded. "They've never been found, nor have the works been recovered. We have several empty frames on our walls saved as placeholders awaiting their return."

"I'm sorry for asking, but what do you want us for? Neither of us was even born when that heist took place!" Jake asked incredulously.

"Good question" Anne Hawley replied. "In the circles with whom I associate, your combined knowledge and ability to _steal _priceless works of art only to return them later, or appear as if they are effortless for you, have caught the attention of the art world."

"Us?" Jake said with a frown on his face. "I think you must have the wrong two people. We're just kids."

Anne Hawley smiled as she looked down at the table, clasping her hands in front of her, the way a school principal would do while breaking down detention for two wayward teens.

Amy felt uncomfortable, _there was no way this woman could have any idea of half the things she and Jake had helped steal._

"Amy, you and your brother as well as your cousin stole the _Medusa _off the wall of the Uffizi Gallery in broad daylight. You and your brother managed to find the original _Il Millione _when the world didn't even know it was missing. You both tracked down the Divirga, _Mapa Mundi_ though it also had been lost to the generations. Jake, Amy, you found a folio to the Voynich that the world didn't know existed." Anne Hawley said, "Shall I continue?"

Amy was trying hard not to let her face turn purple. _How in the WORLD did this woman know so much? Nobody outside the four of them and the Vespers knew about folio 74?_

Jake must have been feeling alarmed as well, because his defense mechanism came on hard, "Now wait just a minute! We had nothing to do with any of those! I've heard enough, let's go Amy."

"Please wait, I'm not here to accuse you." Anne Hawley said, "I want to hire you."


	13. Chapter 12

Ch 12

This stopped Jake in mid step. Amy turned and looked at Ms. Hawley. "You want to hire us?" Amy asked questioningly.

"Please sit. I have a lot to say. I wish to retire next year and I desperately want those pieces returned before I do."

Amy looked at Jake, he looked right back, unsure of what to think.

"Jake, you are of special importance in this quest of mine, for you see, I believe your mother was trying to track down the thieves right up to her death. I have a strong suspicion she left notes and theories somewhere. We in the art community have very little faith in the authority's ability to help. Police and FBI have a history of being paid off easily for such crimes as these. I believe, as do many, that a 'false flag' was raised by authorities after the theft to throw off the scent of the real criminals. Crime bosses' in New Haven and Philadelphia were tagged as the buyers, but it doesn't fit. They aren't the art crowd. I believe, as did your mother, that these works were preordained purchases by a master dealer, or dealers, on the black market. That's why specific pieces were taken and other, much more valuable pieces, were skipped over."

Amy's wheels in her mind where spinning. "If we agree to help you, we would need access to the museum after hours and no questions asked. We would bring in our own team, no outsiders and we would work on our schedule, not one imposed by anyone else. We would also require complete anonymity and no press of any kind. Even, if we were lucky enough to find one or more these and return them, there would be no mention of our names or photos. Complete media blackout regarding us."

"Done," said Anne Hawley without even giving it a second thought.

All three of them sat around the small table staring at each other. Jake and Amy, a unified force across from a desperate curator of a well-respected museum.

Jake squeezed Amy's hand under the table as if to say, "let's do this."

"Then we have a deal," Amy said.

"We haven't discussed your fee," Anne said raising her eyebrows.

"There will be no fee," Amy said with a steely determination. "consider it a gift from Grace Cahill. However, I won't give you any guarantees. If these works of art have been scattered around the globe, our success rate will most likely be very low."

Anne nodded, "I know that, but you are my best hope." She slid two keycards imprinted with the museum's name and logo across the table to them. "These will give you unrestricted access to the museum, day or night. My guards have been alerted to your presence and are under the pretense that you are students studying our museum's history. You certainly wouldn't be the first. They will leave you alone." Ms. Hawley then slid a flip phone across the table to Amy, "this is a burner phone programmed with my number. This is the only way you will contact me, and I you. Do you have questions for me?"

"How often do you want us to check in?" Jake asked.

"Only if something comes up," Anne responded.

Amy sighed, at least this time they were taking on a challenge willingly and not under force. They could do this on their own time and not some breakneck insane pace.

A question occurred to Amy, "Who else knows about us and this quest of yours?"

"No one" Anne Hawley said.

"Not even your husband, or family?" Jake asked.

"My husband is an architect and grew tired of my obsession with recovering these years ago. I haven't mentioned you to him at all. My children are grown and gone and have lives of their own. This is my last best hope and the people who know of your quest are sitting around this table."

Amy and Jake were quiet as they made their way out of the Pusey library. Anne Hawley had left 10 minutes earlier. Anne's words floated back to Amy about Grace's involvement in the foundation of this library and she glanced to the display case in the vestibule. Amy's eyes roved over the lit shelves until she came across a plaque,

**_The Cahill Collection _**

**_donated to the Pusey library, _**

**_1974 _**

**_by Grace Cahill _**

**_with an endowment for further study and collection of antiquities so that all the world's masterpieces may be preserved._**

Amy's breath caught in her throat. She had no idea Grace had donated anything to Harvard. Her own mother, Hope, had gone to Harvard, but no mention of any collaboration between Grace and Harvard had ever reached Amy's ears. Tears filled her eyes, she had no idea Grace had done this. In light of everything she had learned from Nathaniel Hawthorne, her image of Grace had been tainted; this helped to restore her Grandmother's memory to her. It wasn't always terrible to be a Cahill.

"She was telling the truth," Jake said quietly.

"I had no idea," Amy said equally quietly. "What I don't about Cahills could fill volumes," Amy said sadly with a tinge of hardness in her voice.

She had felt supremely ill prepared when the hunt for the 39 clues had begun and it soon became apparent the other teams knew much more about the Cahill family than she and her brother did. It had been maddening. Now, as the head of the family, things like finding a forgotten plaque on a wall at Harvard shouldn't have upset her, but it did. Grace had not told Amy and Dan so many things that they needed to know. What else was Grace hiding from them?

"Don't beat yourself up, Harvard is full of plaques by legacy families that the current generation has no idea about. My own father has contributed to the Peabody so often that I would have no idea which were his pieces and which weren't. I probably should know that stuff, but I don't." Jake said helpfully.

Amy smiled at him, he always had a way of cheering her up.

Jake stepped outside the museum doors and looked up at the clear sky and sighed. "So where do we start?"

"We start by asking the cousins for their help." Amy already had her phone out sending a group text to the cousins, as well as Dan and Atticus. "We can pick up Atticus on the way there."

"Wait a minute, if this really does involve my mother, don't you think we ought to involve my dad? He may have valuable information. He would have been around her that entire time. If the heist happened in '90, and she died in '93, he may be our best lead for where she would have kept notes and such."

Amy hesitated. She knew Mark Rosenbloom _hated_ her. She flashed back to their last encounter in Atlantis. He had come full force at her with such anger and malice, she had started crying. How could one man hate her so much? Amy wasn't sure how to begin to work on Mark Rosenbloom.

Jake sensed her unease, "It won't be as bad as last time you met him. Dad's…well, he lives with a certain amount of guilt over Atticus and me. I think he may have taken all of his worries out on you. He didn't like seeing my face on TV during that time. Att and I have been working on him about you guys."

"I think we will have to involve him, but I want to wait until all the other moving pieces have been put in place." Amy sighed and wrinkled her brow, _how was she going to win over Jake's dad?_

Amy reread the text she was about to send to the extended team: _Hi everyone, I am calling a Cahill meeting at Attleboro tonight. Something has come up. If you're in Mass, come by the mansion, if you aren't, Skype in at 8:00 Eastern, sharp. See you all then._

She hit 'send'. "Ok, it's in motion. Let's get Atticus and try to make it over to the Gardner museum if we can."


	14. Chapter 13

Ch 13

Mark Rosenbloom was feeling peaceful for the first time in years; since Astrid got sick to be exact. He had thrown himself into his work after her death. Losing his second wife to an illness was too much to bare. He knew he shouldn't have left Jake to raise Atticus, but he was in no condition to be a parent to either boy after her death; no man should have to bury two wives. Jake was so protective of his little brother, it was like he had become a mix of father and best friend. Now that time, and a new love had come into his life, he wanted to try and reconnect with his sons.

Atticus was home that Tuesday. Jake had been at class, but Mark heard the back door open and close. He also heard indistinct talking coming from the kitchen. Jake's voice and a female voice. Mark rose from his chair in his office to investigate. He had barely reached his office door when a knock sounded.

"Dad?" Jake's voice said. He cautiously leaned his head around the door to peer inside.

"Jake, what are you doing home? I thought you had class all day?" Mark said.

"I do, I'm just taking a little of the afternoon off. I wanted to talk to you. Actually, both of us did." Jake said with apprehension in his voice. He pushed the office door open all the way revealing a pretty, strawberry brunette with piercing green eyes. She said nothing, but gave him a small smile. "Dad, you remember Amy Cahill, my girlfriend? Amy, my dad, Mark."

Mark had an instant scowl on his face. He sighed audibly and whipped off his reading glasses. He went to speak, but then stopped. Both Mark and Amy stood appraising each other for a few seconds. Neither one blinking or looking away.

Finally, Jake broke the silence. "Dad, Amy's at Harvard now. She's finishing up high school this semester and plans to start full time next semester. That's good news, right?"

Jake looked hopeful as his father wasn't yelling yet. "Dad, we…" Jake started, but was cut off by his father.

"Nuh, uh, me first," Mark said to his son. "Have a seat, both of you."

Amy tried to keep her anxiety from rising to her throat. She'd dealt with lots of people over the years who hated her, but most of them wanted to kill her. She knew how to fight back with that sort of hatred. This was a very different kind. This was a hatred she had to win over. The problem was, she had no idea how to do that. She tried not to wince when Mark spoke again,

"I know my sons think I'm too dense to figure out their plan, but I caught on pretty quickly that every single time I saw them, they made a point to tell me something amazing, interesting, helpful or…adorable about you and your brother. It became a sort of a _Cahill Jeopardy Daily Double_ from them about you two. It didn't take me too long to figure out they were trying to soften me up."

Jake looked sheepishly at his father.

"I didn't know you knew that was intentional." Jake said, his ears going pink.

Mark Rosenbloom looked wanly at Jake, then said in an impression of Jake's voice, "'Dad, did you know that Amy has the same love of Renaissance literature as Astrid?' Or, 'Dad did you know that Cahills helped found Harvard all those years ago?' I felt like there was going to be a quiz at the end. Atticus was doing it too. I should have written them all down. I'd have an essay by now."

Mark sighed and looked at Jake.

Jake leaned back on his chair and gave an embarrassed smile. "We just wanted you to start to see Dan and Amy the way we see them."

"I know you did. You've also tried to convince me that you love Amy."

Mark looked at Amy now, "Do you love him?" he said to her, inclining his head to Jake.

Amy felt like she was on Jeopardy now. _What is 'yes'_, ran through her head before she nodded and simply answered "Yes".

"Look, I don't love the idea of my sons being so deeply ensconced with the Cahill family, but I could have handled myself better last year in Spain. You were trying to present yourself politely, and I was extremely rude to you. Once everything came to light about Pierce and what he was planning, well, I realized my mistake regarding your intentions Amy." Mark said, pausing and looking at Jake and Amy alternatingly.

He continued, "Part of my concern stems from all the secrecy around Cahills. Every time I asked questions about you or your brother I was met with redirection, sleight of hand, or empty stares. My biggest question is about LaCher. I need some answers from you two. I've been trying to piece together what happened to her, but I want to hear it from you, specifically, Amy."

Amy sat upright; _better to yank the band aid off cleanly_, "LaCher was the only person who could help us locate an item we needed to help free hostages from my family. Damian Vesper, I think you've been filled in on his organization, was holding my family hostage unless my brother and I helped track down all of his requests. LaCher had the next piece he needed and she agreed to help us. Nobody, not even LaCher, knew how much danger we were in."

"Atticus was in great danger dad, but I knew keeping him with Amy and Dan was the safest way to protect him. Damian needed Dan and Amy alive, so staying with them was the best way to keep Att alive."

Mark Rosenbloom scowled. "Why did you all just leave LaCher at the hospital? She could have died and you just left Brazil! Jake, what were you thinking?" Mark said with emotion.

Jake opened his mouth to respond, but Amy touched his arm. He needed to hear this from her.

"Dr. Rosenbloom," Amy began with his formal title, hoping it would help to show respect, "I know how it looks. We kept calling the hospital from the plane to see how she was doing. We didn't want anything to happen to her either. However, Damian Vesper only gave us 32 hours to get the folio page to New York City or he was going to kill another hostage. He had already killed two and he wasn't afraid to kill more. We had no choice."

Mark looked at Jake, "Yes, you did. You could have called the authorities! You could have called me!" Jake's face looked stricken. Amy hated seeing him be questioned by his father. Jake was the most upstanding, trustworthy, loyal person she knew.

Amy took a deep breath, "Dr. Rosenbloom, you're wrong." His face showed surprise at being questioned in his own office by a teenage girl. Amy persisted, "Your son is a big part of why we defeated the Vespers and why we know as much about Astrid's death and guardianship as we do. Without Atticus, and specifically, Jake, all of the hostages would be dead."

"Your son," Amy paused to look at Jake. She had that fierce, strong look on her face. He knew whatever was coming would be powerful. He wondered how his father would take it. This was the Amy he had fallen in love with. The decisive, sure, confident Amy that had led the hunt not only for the Vespers, but for the antidote for the serum as well. Her look buoyed Jake's spirits.

"is the most loyal, true, fierce partner I could ask for. He always had Atticus' safety in the forefront of his mind and not a second went by when he wasn't making some decision that benefitted Atticus' well-being. You have two amazing sons. I know I'm not your favorite person, but I love Jake and we've been through hell together. All four of us have. Atticus, Dan, they're in this up to here too." Amy gestured to her forehead. Amy paused and took a breath then continued. "We all developed a bond that won't easily be broken. When I found out LaCher had survived and that she had found you, I was overjoyed. So many people associated with the Vespers died and Pierce hated Dan and I especially because he was spurned by my mother a long time ago. That's why he wanted us dead. I tried, unsuccessfully, to push Jake away from me. I couldn't bear the thought of standing over another grave; his grave, or Atticus'. Dan and I are in this whether we want to or not, but your sons have a choice. I thought, by pushing Jake away, he'd leave and live out a happy life away from me and my family's trouble."

Jake grabbed her hand and gave her a penetrating gaze. This was the first time he'd heard her break this part of their history down. He felt a deep affection bubble up inside him for her. He teared up.

Mark Rosenbloom had been intent on Amy's speech, but when Jake grabbed her hand, his gaze traveled over to his son. He was caught off guard; his normally confident son, looked like he was about to cry. He had never seen Jake show this much raw emotion before. He really did love Amy. That much was clear.

Amy continued without looking at Jake. She knew if she did, she'd lose it. "But, nothing I said made any difference. He stuck with me even when I repeatedly told him not to. If he had listened to me…I'd be dead right now. Jake saved my life. At least twice, probably more." Amy looked down at their clasped hands and she gave his hand a squeeze. He squeezed back.

She looked back up at Mark, "So, it boils down to this. Jake and I love each other, he knows everything there is to know about Cahills and he loves me in spite of it all. He's an amazing big brother to Atticus and he's incredibly selfless. If you aren't already, you should be very proud of him. I know it's going to take time for you to hopefully warm up to Dan and me, but I'm asking you to try."

Amy stopped speaking, having run out of things to say. Mark sat quietly looking across the desk at her, occasionally flicking his eyes to Jake. Amy never wavered in her stare at Mark. She wasn't going to back down on this.

Mark chewed on the inside of his cheek and sighed. "You remind me of Astrid. I take it you've heard all about her from the boys?"

Amy's serious expression softened a bit. She even dared a glance over at Jake. Jake had a lopsided smile on his face.

"Y-yes." Amy stammered. She hadn't expected him to bring Astrid up.

"See, I told you that Amy." Jake said, looking over at her with eyes alight.

They both turned back to Mark. "I appreciate your candidness. I want to know a lot more about the Cahill family and why all the secrecy, but I am open to…having you around. Dan too." Mark looked between Jake and Amy again, resting his gaze on their clasped hands. "It's very clear to me that you both love each other and, well, I know how hard it is for Atticus to make friends, so Dan's friendship to him means the world to me."

Amy let out a sigh she had apparently been holding in.

"Thanks Dad, I love you." Jake said rising from his chair and rounding the desk to hug his father.

"Thank you, Dr. Rosenbloom," Amy said, also standing.

"Please, call me Mark from now on," He said giving Amy a very small smile.

"Ok, thank you…Mark." Amy said, backing toward the door. Jake shut the office door and led Amy toward the staircase where they'd be out of earshot,

"Ames, you were incredible in there!" He said swooping his arms around her and pulling her close.

Amy buried her head in the crook of Jake's neck. She was about to collapse. She didn't respond but just held on to Jake so tightly. He sensed her emotion and didn't say anything further but just stood there holding her against him. Amy needed his strength right then. Not only his physical strength, but the emotional strength he had always given her. He managed to be strong when she couldn't. This was one of those times. Finally, he pulled back from her to study her face. A single tear ran down her cheek. He looked worried.

"Hey, it's alright, you were great in there. You got him to see the real Amy Cahill." Jake smiled, "he's about as stubborn as you are, so if you got through to him, you must have done something right."

Amy smiled at Jake, her arms still around his neck. A shocked look came over her face, "I wasn't ready for that today. I didn't expect to have to lay it all out for him like that."

Jake looked deep into her eyes, "You did what you had to do. You wowed him Ames. You know," Jake said, starting, "I hadn't ever heard you lay out that time when we were broken up before. I still can't believe you thought I'd just walk away from you. I could no more do that than, than sing on stage with Jonah!" Jake finished with a laugh.

"I was just trying to protect you both. I loved you too much to see you die because of me; because of Cahill business. Too many people have died because of the Cahill name. I couldn't have your names be on that list too."

"I know, but neither could any of us. If we lost you, it would have been catastrophic, especially for me." He looked into her eyes, searching, "But it was too late then, and it is way too late now for me to back out. I'm in this for good with you Amy. You are '_la mia anima_'. My '_mate anima mea'_." Jake pulled her close, his gorgeous features inches from her face, his eyes searching hers. His right hand came up behind her head. He lowered his lips to hers, "My soulmate."


	15. Chapter 14

Ch 14

At 8:00 sharp, Amy, Dan, Atticus, Jake, Fiske, Nellie and Sammy skyped with Jonah, Hamilton and Phoenix who were touring in Europe and Ian and Cara who were on a 'relationship exploring' tour of Britain. Dan had referred to their trip as 'Can-Cara-put-up-with-Ian.' They had been having trouble getting along during the mess with the Outcast. They were both Alphas and had been clashing big time. Their feelings for each other were real, however. Amy suggested they get away and try to build their relationship. She was surprisingly protective of Ian and Cara.

Dan thought she wanted it to work so badly for Ian now that Natalie was gone. _I wonder if I'll ever find somebody I can put up with. All the girls I know are annoying._

"Thanks for coming everyone."

"Yo, you gotta make this quick cuz', it's wicked late here in Prague. All my homies finally went to sleep and I had to wake up just to see you all." Jonah began.

"Yes, it is past midnight here in London. Please make it succinct Amy." Ian chimed in with a bleary-eyed Cara sitting beside him in their dark hotel room.

"Alright, I'll get right to the point. A unique opportunity fell into our laps today. An optional but highly valuable mission awaits all of us."

Amy continued to outline the conversation with Anne Hawley, the Gardner Museum, the suspicions on it being an inside job and the authority's involvement, or lack thereof. Jake's mother, Bianca being director of collections for the museum at the time and how Ms. Hawley specifically hunted down Amy and Jake for this mission. She finished with Ms. Hawley's plea to Amy and Jake as her last hope before retirement.

Once she had laid it all out, she added, "Technically, this isn't a Cahill matter, so, that's why at the beginning, I said it was an optional mission. I think these works of art will require the entire Cahill network's eyes and ears to help recover, but even with that, it will be very hard to get them all returned. The works of art are no doubt in private collections with owners who have no intention of displaying them to the public."

Amy stopped speaking and gave everyone time to think.

"So, you suspect these 13 works of art are in 13 different locations with 13 different owners now?" Nellie asked.

"We don't know, but, worst case scenario, yes." Amy responded.

"Yo, we're in. Ham and Phoenix too. 'Course, with my tour schedule I'm going to be pretty limited in what I can do, but I'm in some of the biggest cities in Europe and Janus strongholds nearby, with quite a bit of down time before shows each night. Phoenix my man is my opening act these days. He's got some tight pipes! I'll send you my tour schedule so you can keep it all straight."

"Thanks Jonah. We appreciate it. Go get some sleep, we'll be in touch." Amy said and clicked his Skype feed off.

"Cara and I are in," Ian said. "To be honest, once you've seen one small British town, you've seen them all. I think we're ready for some variety in our travel." Cara nodded.

"I'll work on whatever hacking you need done Amy. Just say the word. I can do that from anywhere."

"Thanks guys, you're the best. Get some sleep and we'll be in touch." Amy clicked off their Skype feed also. Now it was just the Cahills in the comm center.

"I think Sammy and I are going to be of limited help, kiddos. I want to help, really, I do, but my restaurant is brand new and I can't be gone from it. The only reason I could be here today was we're closed on Tuesdays." Nellie said apologetically.

"I'm back in the lab full time and I'm teaching a grad course in chemistry during the days. I think it's a no from me. Unless, of course, you need something from the Columbia lab, then come on down and I'll do what I can."

"Thanks anyway guys, we completely understand. No worries at all. We'll keep you posted if anything is recovered." Amy said standing to give Nellie and Sammy hugs good-bye. Everyone else stood to say good bye as well and watched them leave the mansion.

"Well, that leaves me." Fiske said. "I'm in of course."

Amy smiled at him, "Ok, well, then we have a good team."

"Amy, we're going to have to work around our class schedule. Dad will lose his mind if Att and I start skipping classes." Jake said.

"I know, which is why I told Ms. Hawley we would work on our schedule. She was OK with that. Fiske, can I count on you to be home base here in Attleboro? We'll need you in the comm center until our new headquarters are finished in Cambridge."

"I will, but I need to remind you that I am no Cara Pierce." Fiske said lightly.

"We'll make due, thanks Fiske," Amy said smiling at him. "I think our first order of business will be to visit the Gardner museum, which we ran out of time for today. Then we need to talk with your father, Jake and see what he can tell us about Bianca's notes and files."

That night, as Jake was getting ready for bed, Amy sat up in bed with the laptop open. Jake wandered out from the bathroom with his toothbrush to see what she was doing,

"Wha a ya oing?" he said with a mouth full of paste.

Amy glanced over to him, "I'm trying to find out about each of the pieces that were taken. Apparently, Vermeer's _The Concert_ was the most valuable piece, followed by Rembrandt's _The Storm on the Sea of Galilee_, his only sea scape. The others were of moderate value and a few were just downright strange. One 16th century Japanese vase and then a brass finial from the top of a flagpole, that experts believe the thieves thought was gold. Totally random, it seems."

Jake walked back to the bathroom to spit. Amy watched him. The muscles in his back flexed as he bent over the sink. His muscular legs and butt looked like something out of a Calvin Klein commercial. He was built just like an athlete.

He flipped off the bathroom light and did a funny skip-jog back to the bed. He vaulted himself over Amy to land on the opposite side of her in bed. She gave him a smile and a giggle. He could make her laugh and she loved him for that. He snuggled up next to her so their sides were touching. He leaned over and kissed Amy's cheek.

"So, what is the complete list?"

Amy clicked over to Wikipedia and ran her finger down the list for Jake.

"According to this, the thieves were really primitive in their robbery techniques. They yanked the art off the walls and attempted to smash the frames to remove them from the art. When that failed, they used box cutters to roughly cut the art from the frame, only, they didn't realize canvas was stapled from the back side, so they left a good inch of the art in the frame when they cut it out from the front side."

"So, even if we do recover the works, they'll have to be re-stretched onto new, smaller frames and the current frames hanging empty won't work anymore. Unbelievable. If this was truly a work-for-hire job, you'd think the commissioning crooks would want the entire work of art, not a portion of it. You'd think they could hire some thieves who had done this before." Jake said incredulously.

"It also says here that the security guards remember watching them roll up the canvasses before they left, only, Anne Hawley is quoted here saying the canvasses would have been so old, they wouldn't have had any pliability left to them and couldn't have been rolled up. The best the thieves could have done would be to fold them. Only the guards stand by their claim that they saw them being rolled."

Jake gave a big sigh and closed Amy's laptop lid. "Let's go to sleep, this can wait until morning."

Amy put the laptop on the night stand and flipped off her lamp. She snuggled down into the crook of Jake's arm and hooked a leg over his. Jake's right hand began to trace patterns down Amy's arm which he did every night. It had become part of their routine.

Jake gave a big sigh, "I love this. I love being with you Amy. If this is our future, then I can't wait for the Cambridge house to get finished. I want to do this every night."

Amy smiled, "Me too."


	16. Chapter 15

Ch 15

Jake and Atticus were up early the next morning to head back to Cambridge for classes. Amy and Dan drove to the museum. Anne Hawley met them in the lobby.  
"Welcome, thank you for coming." Amy was about to introduce her brother, when, "you must be Dan. You're just as notorious as your sister. Yes, I'm aware who you are. I'm Anne Hawley, the director. Please, call me Anne. I'm so glad you came. Come with me, I will show you around." Dan gave Amy a big-eyed look behind Anne's back. Amy just shrugged. They had been through so much together and if this woman had researched them, I guess it made sense that she would approach Dan this way. It was the same way she had approached Amy and Jake.

Anne led them into the main gallery. It was one of the most beautiful museums Amy had ever seen. Dan even thought so, "Whoa, this place is amazing!"

It was built to resemble a Venetian Villa with a center courtyard covered by glass skylights. An ornate fountain and seating dominated the ground floor. Balconies and ornate railings dominated the second and third floors. Greenery abounded as tourists began to mill around.

Anne was true to her word. She showed them around the whole museum highlighting the rooms and what works dominated each space. She paid special attention to the missing works on the walls, where an empty frame sat awaiting the return of the missing work.

"Our works are on permanent display, so, leaving the frames empty is a reminder of what we've all lost, and as a place holder for their eventual return." Anne said with a touch of sadness in her voice.

"Do you have records of all the works in the museum?" Amy asked.

"Yes, of course, we have over 12,000 works in the museum's collection, some of which are on loan, or being restored at any given time. This collection database was what Bianca Rosenbloom was in charge of back when the robbery took place." Anne said, heading toward the elevator. "We keep the records of the collections in our administrative section on the 4th floor."

When the elevator doors opened, Amy was surprised by how commonplace the space was compared to the rest of the museum. It looked like the inside of a bank to her. Offices with partition walls dominated the small room's footprint. A few glassed-in offices surrounded the walls with round windows overlooking the outside. On the left side of the space was a sealed room with a huge metal door, like that of one you'd find in a vault.

"You're welcome to research anything you like in our records room" Anne said indicating to the vault-like room, "and my office should you need me is back in that corner." She indicated to the largest glassed in office in the far corner. "Though, I should warn you that I'm hardly ever in my office as I often give tours of the museum. Your best chance at reaching me is the phone I gave you."

A young blonde man with piercing blue eyes walked up to Anne Hawley just then. A brilliant smile on his innocent-looking face, his keycard clipped to his pants pocket faced the wrong way so Amy and Dan couldn't make out his name.

_Whoa,_ Amy thought, _he's cute_. His smile filled up his whole face. He had the most perfect teeth she'd ever seen and his white-blonde hair and blue eyes contrasted nicely. She instantly tamped that thought down, her thoughts on Jake.

"Amy, Dan, I'd like to introduce you to Trevor Jorgensen, my assistant. He will be able to help you in your search. He helps all of my students who come to research the robbery and the works."

Trevor stuck out his hand to Amy and she took it, "Nice to meet you," Amy said.

"The pleasure is all mine," Trevor said enthusiastically, holding her hand a second longer than necessary. His gaze lingering on her face longer than required too.

Amy felt herself going pink. _I shouldn't care what this guy thinks, I'm with Jake. _Still, there was something fun about being flirted with, Amy had to admit.

Dan noticed and got a smirk on his face.

They said goodbye to Anne Hawley and followed Trevor into the records room. He showed them the files along the walls, and a bank of computers on a long desk in the middle.

"If you need anything, ANYTHING at all, please ask. I can show you specific collections, or help you search a specific work" Trevor said, standing very close to Amy and giving her puppy-dog eyes. Dan wanted to hurl. _Why did guys act like this with his sister? _

"Thank you, Trevor, we'll let you know," Amy said giving him her most genuine smile.

After he left the records room, Dan leaned over, "Uh, flirt much?" he said with snigger.

"Shut up Dan. We have work to do." Amy said sitting down at the first computer and booting it up.

Dan continued, "I'm pretty sure Trevor wants to research _you_."

Amy ignored him.

"Let's start with _The Concert_. I think if we can focus on that one, we may be able to find the others."

Amy and Dan searched the database for nearly two hours before their eyes began to cross and focusing became hard to do. Dan had sent a text to Jonah and Ian asking them to research _The Concert_ with their Janus and Lucian contacts. Trevor had come in a handful of times to ask if he could be of assistance. Amy was always polite to him, flashing him big smiles but giving him no additional information on what they were researching.

Dan finally leaned back and sighed audibly, "Amy we need to take a break. I can't look at this anymore. Let's get some food at least."

Amy sighed. She was feeling the strain too. She was about to agree with him when they heard a loud clunk. Spinning around they stared open-mouthed at the now shut vault door.

"Is that supposed to happen?" Dan asked with alarm rising in his voice.

"I don't think so," Amy said getting out of her seat and rushing to the vault door. "Help me with this thing, Dan" Amy said starting to turn the large crank handle to the left.

They both cranked and cranked all the way to the left and nothing happened.

"Try pushing on it!" Dan shouted

"I AM!" Amy said.

Nothing happened.

"Maybe it opens the other way, let's crank all the way to the right!" Amy said, reasonably.

No luck. It wouldn't budge.

Dan started banging on the door, shouting for someone to hear on the other side.

After a few minutes, he gave up. "I suppose they can't hear me."

"Who would want to lock us in a research room?" Dan asked.

"We don't know that anyone locked us in here. Maybe it is programmed to shut at a certain time each day." Amy said hopefully.

"Amy, you and I have been through too much together to have that level of naiveté." Dan said ruefully.

"Well, I'm going to reserve judgement. This is a busy museum and I don't think we'll be trapped in here very long." She said. "Plus, we're not in any immediate danger. There's no Halon gas system in here. We have lights and air, so I guess we just wait it out. Trevor and Anne know we're in here. What time is it?"

"3:30." Dan replied with much misery.

"Dan, we've been in much worse situations. This is a cakewalk compared the Cosmographicum in Prague, or that zip line in Guatemala," Amy said trying to reassure her brother.

"I know, I know, I was just really wanting a cheeseburger. I'm starved."

"I have some gum." Amy said, holding out a piece to him. He took it grudgingly.

"We might as well work as long as we're trapped in here. I'm sure Trevor will check on me, I mean, us again soon." Amy said, catching her slip up, but not before Dan noticed.

"He's really got a thing for you, Amy. I'm starting to think you're some guy magnet. You seem to attract them wherever you go." Dan said with a smirk.

Amy just shook her head and headed back to the computer. "You know Dan, your turn will come and when it does, I get to tease you mercilessly for years, just like you've done to me."

"Never gonna' happen. I'm going to be a confirmed bachelor, like Fiske, or Uncle Alistair," Dan said resolutely.

"Hmm, we'll see," Amy said haughtily. "Love has a way of coming at inconvenient times and you can't really control it."

"Maybe not for you, but it'll be different for me. I won't go falling for every girl who comes into my life."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Amy said turning in her chair to face her brother, she could feel her face reddening.

"Amy, you gotta' admit, you are boy crazy. You tend to flirt with any boy that pays the slightest bit of attention to you. First it was Ian on the hunt, then you pined away for Evan forever, and now Jake."

Amy's face went completely red. "I do not!" she fairly shouted at Dan. "There was nothing between Ian and me on the hunt." Amy said, trying her best to speak like she meant it.  
"Yeah right, I saw the two of you. I'm glad you both outgrew that one. I didn't want Ian as a brother-in-law."

"And you didn't like Evan?" Amy asked quietly, thinking about her first love.

"Actually, I liked him more and more as we fought the Vespers. He was pretty cool. You two together though, made me want to barf."

Amy smiled at the memory. "We were together 24/7 it seemed."

"Yeah, I know. I had to watch you do the 'lean' on the bus every single day." He said sticking his index finger down his throat.

Amy turned back to her computer, thinking their conversation on her boyfriends was over.

Apparently, Dan had more thoughts, "Amy, I really like Jake though. I think it's pretty cool that he's Atticus' brother. I think you ought to stick with him. Don't go looking for a new boyfriend. Jake's the right one for you."

Amy's eyebrows raised, "Oh you think so, do you?" she said with a smile. "I'm so glad you approve."

She looked at his face, all traces of sarcasm were gone and he genuinely looked concerned. _He really thinks I'm flirting with Trevor. He's worried I'm already looking past Jake. _

"Dan, don't worry. I know Jake's the right one for me." Amy said, squeezing his hand. "I didn't know this worried you. You don't have anything to fear. Jake and I are strong, stronger than we've ever been and we're already starting to talk long-term." As an aside, she said, "I love Jake and he loves me. That's as good as it gets."

Dan pulled his hand away from hers and gave her a withering stare. Apparently saying the 'L' word was too much for him. "I'm sorry I brought it up." He said lamely.

They both turned back to their computer monitors.

"I think I'm going to see what I can find about Isabella Stewart Gardner," Amy said.

"What do we know about her?" asked Dan, "Was she a Cahill?"

"I don't know," Amy said absent-mindedly.

"I'll text Ian and ask him to find out." Dan said whipping out his phone. "No service. That's weird. I sent him a text earlier."

"It must be this room," Amy said, checking her cell phone too.

"I wonder if it's lead-lined or something." A sense of panic starting to creep up. What if nobody came to check on them the rest of the night? What if they weren't discovered until morning? They couldn't go that long without using a bathroom, or getting something to drink.

"Hey, Trevor, where are you?" Dan yelled through the door.

"It's no use Dan. We just have to wait." Amy returned to her search through the database.

"It says here that Isabella Stewart Gardner was a fixture and a spectacle in the art world during her time. She was flamboyant, eccentric and a general flirt. She was independently wealthy and used her 'play-money', as she called it, to start the collection of art housed here. She began construction on her magnum opus around the turn of the century and the museum opened in 1903. She'd go to auctions all over Europe, buying up masterpieces and storing them in her home until the museum was finished.

At that moment, they heard a voice muffled on the other side of the door and a distant banging sound. They both rushed to the door and began to yell and bang back.

"We're in here, get us out!" Amy yelled.

They heard a scraping sound as the wheel from the outside was turned and finally groaned open. Trevor stood there, eyes wide and mouth open.

"Were you guys locked in?" He asked with astonishment, "I, I, I had no idea this door even sealed. I'm so sorry! I should have checked on you an hour ago!"

"Yes, thank you so much Trevor, I don't know what we would have done without you!" Amy said in her flirtatious manner again.

Dan glanced at his watch. It was nearly 5:30. They had been trapped in the vault almost two hours.

"We appreciate your help, but we really need to be going." Amy said. Trevor looked like he was about to cry.

"The museum is about to close, that's why I came up to see how you were doing. They've already locked the front door. You'll have to go out the alley entrance." He said, apologetically.

As they reached the alley entrance, a thought occurred to Amy.

"Trevor, is this the door that was used by the thieves that night?"

Trevor looked sheepish, "Yes, it is, the very one." Dan could tell he was searching for something else to say. When he couldn't think of anything, he just looked at the ground.

Amy came to his rescue, "You've been really helpful Trevor, thank you so much for your help. If we need anything else, we'll be sure to give you a call."

His face lit up, "Wait, I'll give you my card." He pulled out a white business card from his pocket, he quickly flipped it over and scribbled something on the back. "I've written my cell phone number on the back in case you need it, you know, for anything. Call whenever you want." He said with puppy dog eyes fixed on Amy.

"Thanks Trevor," Amy said pocketing his card and giving him one last smile.

Amy and Dan walked back around the back of the building and up a narrow alley. It had rained while they were inside the museum. It was dark in the alley as not a lot of sunshine reached the ground and there were slick puddles in patches along the ground. It was an uncomfortable feeling and Amy felt the hairs on her neck prickle. Just then, a large shape loomed at the entrance to the alley, blocking their way.

Dan and Amy stopped in their tracks.

"Hey, you two" the large shape shouted.

Dan turned to run, but Amy pulled on his arm and stood her ground.

"We haven't done anything wrong, we don't have any reason to fear this person."

"Amy, are you insane?! We just got locked in a vault and now a goon shows up in an alleyway? Let's get out of here!" Dan fairly shouted to her.

"No, I'm not running. There's one of him and two of us and we've not done anything wrong." Amy's eyes looked like steel and she stepped into her fighter's stance.

Dan sighed. "Fine, I guess I'm due for a good fight anyway. It's been too long," getting into his fighter's stance too.

The goon was big; bigger than even Pierce's men. Dan could feel his heartbeat pumping in his ears.

"What do you want?" Amy said loudly to the man running toward them.

"I want you to turn around and leave this place, and stop poking around!"

At this, he swung a sharp right hook at Amy's head which she nimbly ducked. Dan went to sweep his leg under the man's feet, but they were like concrete; immobile. The goon looked down at Dan and smiled, he bent, picked Dan up like a rag doll and made to throw him against the side of the museum. Amy sprang at him and climbed on his back, hooking her arms tightly around his windpipe and leaning back hard, to try and choke him. She succeeded in getting the man to simply drop Dan in a puddle at their feet. He grabbed both of her arms and flung her over his head. She sailed through the air and slammed sideways into a dumpster cutting her cheek on the edge. She could feel warm blood begin to seep from the cut on her cheek. She was groggy and the ground began to swim. She blinked to try and clear her vision. She could hear heavy footsteps coming nearer. Suddenly, her head was jerked back at an odd angle,

"Did you hear me, little pretty? I want you and your brother to stop digging around here. If you don't, I won't be so nice the next time." The goon laughed and pushed her head down into the puddle and walked off toward the entrance to the alley.

Amy looked up, concern for Dan flooded her mind.

"I'm fine," he said, as though reading her mind. "Let's get the hell out of here. I've had enough of art for one day."


	17. Chapter 16

Ch 16

It was dusk. The last rays of sunlight were disappearing behind the rooftops. Jake paced back and forth across the kitchen. _Where were they? _He checked his cell phone for the hundredth time. No text. Amy had promised they would come by the house after the museum. He worried about this mission. He would never voice it to Amy, at least, not yet, but he had a suspicion that if these stolen works of art were happily placed in thieves' homes, they wouldn't give them up easily. Had they already run afoul of some disgruntled possessor?

Jake heard two car doors shut. He whipped his head around and spotted the Mercedes parked on the side street, Amy and Dan pulling on backpacks as they made their way to the sidewalk. They weren't smiling and Amy had a large gash on her cheek. Dan looked wet.

Jake bounded out the back door, "What happened to you two? Are you alright? I've been texting you both for an hour and a half!" He gave them each the once over. Concern spread across his features.

Amy gave him a small smile, "We're OK, we ran into some trouble at the museum. I'll tell you all about it later. We need to change."

"As Jonah would say, 'I'm mad starved, yo'" Dan said, exhaustion on his face.

"I'll reheat dinner for you. We ate when you didn't show up." Jake said heading for the fridge.

Twenty minutes later, Amy and Dan had changed into dry clothes, Amy had a bandage on her cheek. She and Dan were sitting at the island, hunched over plates of Indian food with beans, rice and a creamy masala sauce. It was amazing. Atticus had joined them.

"Ok, spill it. I want to hear everything." Jake said leaning close to Amy across the island, fixing her with one of his worried looks.

Amy sighed, she looked at Dan. She knew the minute they started talking, Jake would slip into 'worried boyfriend' mode and want them to abort the undertaking.

Thankfully, Dan spoke first, "Somebody doesn't want those works found. We got locked in the records room and that wasn't a normal records room. It had crazy security and a sealed door like a bank vault."

"Whoa, you got sealed in a vault?" Atticus' eyes lit up and a look of amazement came over his face.

"Somebody sealed us in while we were researching. There were no communications inside and our cell phones didn't work." Amy said. "Thank god Trevor came by."

Dan sniggered, "Yeah, Trevor to the rescue." His voice took on a falsetto and he clasped his hands in front of his chest, "Oh Amy, I didn't know you were in here! Are you alright? Can I get you anything? A pen, some paper, a kiss?"

Amy shot Dan a look of deep loathing. "knock it off Dan. It wasn't like that."

Atticus and Dan broke into giggles.

Jake looked confused. "What happened?" his eyes traveling from Amy's deep scowl to Dan's laughter.

"You've got some competition Jake," Dan said between fits of giggles. "Trevor looovvvveeesss Amy. He was all gaga over her today."

Amy sighed, "It wasn't like that at all, Dan. Knock it off."

Jake's eyebrows were raised and he was giving Amy an 'I need an explanation' look.

"Oh alright, he was a little enthusiastic, but that's just because he's really interested in his job."

Dan burst out in laughter again, "No he wasn't Amy, he's an intern in a boring art museum! He lit up like a fire cracker when you walked in. He followed you around like a puppy all afternoon."

"Well, I'm glad he did, because if he hadn't, we'd still be locked in the records room." Amy said with exasperation.

"I'm coming with you next time," Jake said a mixture of worry and jealousy on his face. Amy had to smile a little. He was cute when he was jealous.

"We're fine. You don't need to come with me." Amy said.

"How did you get all wet Dan? Amy where did you get that gash?"

Amy reached up and touched her face. That was a little harder to explain.

"We met some goon in the alley behind the museum where we parked the car." Dan said. "He told us to back off from our search. Amy kicked his butt, but not before being thrown against a dumpster and I took a quick nap in a puddle."

"WHAT?" Jake spit out.

"You guys got attacked in an alley?" Atticus added

Amy nodded. "Apparently more people know about our purpose at the Gardner than Anne Hawley knows about."

"You have to tell her!" Atticus said

"No, you have to walk away from this," Jake said with authority. "You both could have gotten killed today!"

"No, we're not doing either." Amy replied. "Anne Hawley would call off the search herself if she knew about this, and," Amy continued before Jake could cut her off, "that guy wasn't trying to kill us. He wanted to send a message, that's all."

"Message received," Dan said flatly, rubbing a bump on the side of his head.

Amy and Dan filled the two brothers in on the information they had gathered from the vault. "I decided to focus on Vermeer's _The Concert _simply as a place to start. That seemed the most likely to be the focus of the theft." It was the first major artwork that Isabella Stewart Gardner purchased back in 1892 at a Paris auction."

"I heard back from Ian," Dan said "she was a Cahill. A Janus" he added. "She was independently wealthy and married a non-Cahill who was about as interested in art as a slug."

"How did the piece end up at auction?" Jake asked.

"That's where the story gets interesting," Dan said. "Apparently, Theophile Thore-Burger was an art critic and political author who was obsessed with Vermeer. In fact, nobody even cared about Vermeer before he started writing and stirring the art world up for Johannes Vermeer. He bought up a lot of Vermeer's work in his lifetime while the art was still pretty cheap. Dude foamed at the mouth for him."

"His love of Vermeer was the main reason his art became popular. He'd never been a very successful painter and he only created 43 art works that we know about. He died young." Amy added.

"Theo, that's what I've started calling him, was a total fangirl. He and his partner bought up Vermeers whenever they could." Dan interjected.

"So how did Isabella Stewart Gardner end up buying it at an auction?" Atticus asked.

"Theo Burger died about two decades before the auction and his estate was being liquidated." Amy said. "We think she started with this work because of the interest in Vermeer, but also because it was moderately affordable. It would have been a good piece to start with."

"So, he didn't have any heirs? No family who would have wanted to keep this work?" Jake asked.

"No, he had a partner, but at the time, his partner wouldn't have had any rights. Plus, even by 1892, his partner was dead."

"What about an extended network? Anyone who would have had resentment that the works were being sold?" Jake asked.

Amy's heart warmed. Jake had a way of asking just the right questions. This used to unnerve her when they had been on opposite sides of the hunt for the Vespers, but now it was comforting. She loved how pin-point accurate he could be. She smiled at him and he caught her looking. He smiled back at her and a shiver went up her spine. He knew how to make her melt.

"We thought of that," Dan said, "but the trail went cold, like, a hundred years ago."

"She hung the work in the museum starting in 1903 when it first opened. It hung there for 87 years without incident."

"Do we know if Theo Burger was a Cahill?" Atticus asked

"Yes, a Janus, a distant relative of Isabella Gardeners. They never met however, as he died when she was a small child."

"So, we're back to square one then?" Jake asked with disappointment in his voice.

"Maybe not, Dan had an idea of trying to look back through the old video surveillance leading up to the robbery," Amy started.

Dan finished, "but it was old and grainy and it didn't really show much. It would have taken a million years to scan all the surveillance and try to look for repeaters. Plus, it was so grainy we wouldn't have been able to distinguish anything."

Jake frowned, "I thought I heard a 'but' coming,"

"but, that's when we were locked in the vault."

"Somebody didn't want us looking through that footage," Amy said. "even though that footage is probably the most watched surveillance in the world."

"We think that since somebody knew we were there to look into the robbery and that a goon tried to intimidate us in the alley, Anne Hawley's phone may have been tapped. How else could somebody know that she had hired us to find the stolen works?"

"I don't know, but I don't like this." Jake said frowning. "I thought this was going to be different. Easy almost. Nobody knew what we were there for so no fear. Now, you're assaulted on your first day to the museum and we don't have any good leads."

"It is going to tough, but we've faced harder things than this and we all know it." Amy said with an edge of steel in her voice. "We're not giving up."

Everyone looked at Amy.

"So, now what?" Atticus asked

"I think the next step is to talk with your dad, we've put an all-call out to the entire Cahill network for info on this work. If both Theo Burger and Isabella Stewart Gardner were both Cahills, there's bound to be information in a Janus stronghold somewhere."

"And for that, we need Jonah," Dan said.


	18. Chapter 17

Ch 17

Dan put in a voicemail to Jonah's cell that evening. He knew Jonah was on stage in Milan but he'd get back to Dan in the morning. He also wanted to spend some time on the internet researching Theo Burger, Isabella Stewart Gardner and anything that might be helpful from 125 years ago. He and Atticus hunkered down in the living room, laptops open, pens and paper at the ready. Dan was especially grateful for Atticus as research was normally Amy's specialty. _I'm turning into my sister_, he thought. Oh well, he could have worse role models he figured.

Jake and Amy went upstairs to find Mark Rosenbloom. They had quickly discussed how they'd approach the subject with him without giving away too much. They finally figured they needed to just be honest with him about Anne Hawley approaching them and wondering if he knew anything about Bianca's notes.

"Dad?" Jake said poking his head around the office door. "Can we come in?"

"Sure! What's up Jake?" Dr. Rosenbloom said.

Amy followed him inside. They both had to clean off chairs opposite Mark's desk. Amy looked around for a place to put her stack of books and papers. Finding nothing, she finally just put them back on her lap as she sat.

"Dad, Amy and I had a strange experience a few days ago. We were approached on campus by Dr. Anne Hawley." Jake let that name linger in the air a moment, watching his father's face for recognition.

At first, there was a blank expression, then a slow dawning as the name sank in. A reflective look took over his handsome features, "I haven't heard that name in a long time." Mark said. "Do you two know who she is?"

"We do now" Amy said.

"Jake, your mother used to work for her at the Gardner museum back before you were born."

"I know, Anne filled us in." Jake said.

"What did she want?" Mark continued, frowning.

"She wanted our help. She thinks mom might have had notes and information about the robbery somewhere." Jake was careful to leave out the part about hiring them to find the works.

"She's going to try and find the works one last time before she retires," Amy added.

"How in the world did she know you were Bianca's son?" Mark asked, "You were just a baby at the funeral!" genuine curiosity on his face.

Amy looked sheepish, "Well, that wasn't too hard as our faces have been in the tabloids in recent months." Amy hated that she had been the subject of Pierce's attacks. She hated it even more that Jake had been dragged into things.

Mark scowled. He had just stared to warm to Amy and now he looked like he hated her again.

"That's not important dad, in a way, it was good because Anne Hawley had no idea how to reach us anymore. I really think we should help her if we can. What do you remember about mom and the Gardner museum?" Jake asked, leaning forward in his seat.

Mark took a long breath and leaned back in his chair, fixing his eyes on a spot on the opposite wall thinking. He didn't respond right away. Jake and Amy exchanged a quick glance. It looked like Mark was lost in his memories, remembering his first wife who had died so many years earlier.

"Your mother was an extraordinary woman." He began. "We met in Portugal and fell in love. She moved over to the US to be with me and the easiest way for her to stay was for us to get married. So, we did. We were young and foolish," he shot a meaningful glance at both Jake and Amy.

He continued, "we lived in a dump right off the Peabody. She took classes in art history while I finished up my undergrad. She was a few years older than I was. Her father had some pull and she was able to start grad school at Harvard while I finished. She got her master's in Renaissance Art History specializing in the Golden era; the Dutch masters. She started traveling to visit these works while I was traveling to start my Ph.D."

He sighed as he remembered. "We'd meet up all over the globe for quick weekends together". He gave a quick laugh at the memory. "it seems like a lifetime ago now."

Amy looked over a Jake. He was smiling, soaking in every memory he could get of his mother.

"In '89 I graduated with my doctorate and she was more than ready to start a family." Jake smiled, thinking how much his mother had wanted him. "She was hired at the Gardner museum as director of collections and I took up lecturing here when I wasn't in the field. She had only been at the museum a few months when it was robbed. She was devastated." Mark frowned, remembering,

"B became singularly-focused on finding those works." He said, referring to her nickname. Amy smiled thinking of Jake's mother as _B_. He continued, "She'd go to work in the morning, then she'd come home at night and continue to research for hours. Eventually falling asleep at her desk. I was worried about her. She barely slept anymore."

"Did she ever find anything?" Jake asked

"I'm not sure. She found out she was pregnant with you a year after the robbery and her focus shifted. After you were born, I don't remember her ever talking about it. Then, she got sick and was gone by the time you were a year old."

Mark's face grew somber, remembering that difficult time in his life. Amy could imagine trying to raise an infant and no mother to help. At least she and Dan had been out of diapers when their parents died. She looked over at Jake, he looked as somber as his father, no doubt thinking about the same thing.

"How did you do it dad? I mean, take care of me after she died?" he asked searchingly.

"It wasn't easy. I eventually found a nanny who would come to the house and take care of you while I worked, but it meant I couldn't do any field work for quite a while. In a way though, it was good. I was on campus all the time," he smiled, and continued "and that's where I met Astrid."

He gave a small smile, thinking of his second wife; Atticus' mother. "I got a chance to watch you grow and you looked so much like B when you were little. It was comforting to me."

Jake smiled warmly at his father. He could imagine the heartache Mark Rosenbloom had been through in his life. Amy could too. Losing one woman you loved would be hard enough, but losing two…that had to be catastrophic.

"Dad, do you know if you have anything of mom's anymore?" Jake asked hopefully.

"Probably, I wouldn't have wanted to throw a single thing away after she died and as scholars, neither Astrid nor I would have wanted to part with any sort of research." Mark said with conviction.

Jake lit up, "Where do you think you would have kept her things?"

"My best guess would be the attic. You're welcome to go dig around up there. Just be careful, who knows what's up there after all these years." Mark said with a twinkle in his eye.


	19. Chapter 18

Ch 18

The next morning, after a good night's sleep, Amy, Dan, Atticus and Jake all made their way to the dusty attic at the top of the old Cambridge Victorian where the Rosenbloom family lived. Dan had bunked with Atticus and Amy with Jake. Dr. Rosenbloom had made the drive to Providence to see LaCher. They had pulled down a trap door in the ceiling and a retractable ladder slid down, nearly hitting Atticus in the face.

"Whoa, what is this place?" Dan said looking around with awe. He didn't know what he was expecting, but it wasn't this. It was like walking into the attic of the Smithsonian. Towers of boxes, crates, storage bins, tables and chairs stacked full of odd shaped items covered in sheets. It was like a scene from a movie. Dan didn't know if he should laugh or cry. There was so much stuff up there where were they going to start?

"Ok, Mom's gone almost 20 years now, so, I'm guessing anything that would have been hers will be at the bottom of any stack, and probably the furthest in the back." Jake reasoned.

All four of them spread out, a single overhead bulb hanging from the ceiling cast strange shadows across the space. The two eyebrow windows cut in to the ceiling gave some indirect lighting, but it wasn't enough to really see things, so they all had their flashlight apps out, shining around the room.

Amy started pulling sheets off of piles causing large plumes of dust to go circling in the air. She glanced at Dan to see if his asthma was acting up, but so far so good.

"Whoa, what is this?" Atticus said faintly holding up what appeared to be part of a headstone.

Amy and the others knew they had to focus, this could easily turn into a field trip in the Rosenbloom attic if they didn't. Mark Rosenbloom had outfitted most of the world's museums with at least one artifact and it appeared that his collection had not all ended up in museums. Some of it had made it to the attic where it awaited some unknown fate. Amy figured you couldn't be a world-renowned archeologist without an attic full of treasures.

Finally, after quite a bit of time, Dan called out, "I think I found something," holding up a yellowing cardboard file box with faded marker written on the side. "B. Rosenbloom".

"This has to be it!" Jake said excitedly.

They all followed Jake out of the attic, having decided taking the box to the kitchen made the most sense. They crowded around as he lifted the lid on the box. A mishmash of papers, photos, notes and newspaper clipping stared up at them.

"Let's spread it out on the island and start going through it. Maybe we can sort through it and make piles." Amy suggested.

They all took a handful of items and began to sift through them. It became clear that 22 years of time had dulled much of the ink. The photos had age around the edges as well, but they could still be seen clearly.

Atticus suggested they start to group the information according the work it corresponded with. Eventually they had 14 neat piles on the table. One for each of the missing works and a fourth for unknown or collective status. It was clear to them all that Bianca had devoted the last years of her life to finding these works and she had put in a lot of hard work gathering notes.

"Well, if there was ever a reason for Google, this is it" Atticus said with a smile. "Imagine what she could have done with a good search engine."

Dan's phone pinged, "It's from Jonah", he opened the text. "Yo, cuz', my homies at the Janus stronghold in Rome say there was a lot of talk about the robbery after it happened. I asked for a list of any names of people who were stirring up that chatter at the time and here you go. I hope it helps."

Amy and Jake crowded around Dan's phone to see a short list of about 7 names.

Quigley O'Reilly

Antonio Marcellius

Phillippe Calabrese

Alastair Oh

Danica Simonson

Atlas Smith

Marcus Starling

Amy took a step back. She knew two names on that list and suspected a third was a fellow Cahill.

Dan said what she was thinking, "Holy Shit!"

"What is it? Let me see," Atticus said glancing at the names on the list.

Jake had gone silent which was not like him. Amy glanced at him, he had taken the cell phone when Dan set it down. He was staring at one particular name with his mouth hanging open.

"What is it Jake?" Amy asked, frowning.

"Whoa," Atticus said with awe as he looked over the list next to his brother. He slowly glanced up at Jake waiting for his reaction.

"_What is it?"_ Amy repeated, more urgently.

Jake gave a little cough to clear his throat, "uh, well, Bianca's maiden name was Calabrese. I'm almost certain her father was named Phillippe. I think my grandfather's name is on this list."

"Uh Jake, that's not the only important name on that list. You remember Uncle Alistair? He's on there" Dan said

"As well as Atlas Smith" Amy said with distinct distain in her voice for the black-market goon who had tried to kill them earlier this year when he wouldn't let them board his ship in Nova Scotia. "He's a known arms trader."

"What about Marcus Starling?" Atticus asked, remembering the Cahill connection to several prominent Starlings.

"I saw that too, Att," Dan said, "I don't know any Marcus', but the name Starling is for sure a Cahill. Ekat branch."

"Do the names Quigley O'Reilley, Antonio Marcellius or Danica Simonson mean anything to anyone?" Jake asked, finally breaking out of his trance.

Everyone sat with blank expressions on their faces.

"When we were going through Bianca's things, did any of you find anything with names on it?" Dan asked picking up the first stack and looking through it.

"I found this notebook," Atticus said, holding up a tiny memo book. "There are some names in here, but they aren't any of those names. I think they may be the names of the maffia members who were considered suspects at the time. They've been cleared since then."

Finally, Amy spoke up, "I think it's time to go back to the Gardner and start researching these names."

"Amy, I love that you like to research as much as I do, but I gotta' tell ya', you don't need to leave this house to search the Gardner's archives. In actuality, virtually every museum in the world has digitized their collection now with hi-def images and made them public the world over." Atticus said matter-of-factly.

"He's right, between the Cahill command center and a good Google search, we can find anything we need right here. Plus, I think I need to find out more about my grandfather if he's a suspect in the Janus database." Jake said with a frown.

"We also need to consider bringing Anne Hawley up to date soon." Amy said.

"Let's order some Chinese and start going through Bianca's records and see if we can cross-reference any of the names Jonah gave us with anything in here." Dan said, gesturing to the covered marble island.


	20. Chapter 19

Ch 19

Amy asked Ian and Fiske to do a search on each of the seven names, cross referencing them the entire Cahill database. Fiske said he thought he remembered a Marcus Starling, but he couldn't remember how he knew him.

Cara had tapped into the direct database at the Gardner and given Dan a direct line to his laptop. She had also suggested they take this search over to the partially finished Cahill headquarters a few blocks away. Now that someone knew they were looking for these, a secure location was a good idea. "A partially secure building was preferable to a non-secure building." Not for the first time, Amy wished construction would move faster.

The group worked for several hours comparing notes in Bianca's work with what they could find in the Cahill network.

"You know, most of the works stolen were Degas or Rembrandts. Maybe we're looking for the wrong work? Maybe this wasn't about cost, but rather a specific artist?" Jake offered after a while of silence.

"I don't know, the Degas works were of little value and were rather obscure works, one of them was never even dated!" Amy offered, rubbing her eyes.

"Guys, I'm beat." Dan finally said, shutting his laptop.

"Me too," Atticus said standing to stretch.

"You kids still at this? Why are you so interested in this?" Came Mark Rosenbloom's voice from the doorway. "How about I drive this box over the Gardner for you tomorrow and give it to Anne myself? I haven't seen her in 20 years."

The four of them all looked around at each other, silent. Afraid to say anything.

"Uh, that's OK dad, we want to do a little more digging here. It's just _so_ fascinating." Jake said in his best fake-sincere voice.

Dr. Rosenbloom frowned at his oldest son, "Now I know you're lying to me. I suspected it yesterday in the office. You've never cared much for art Jake, why the sudden interest? What aren't you telling me?"

"Dr. Rosenbloom, Jake and I weren't completely honest with you the other night in your office about why we wanted Bianca's work." Amy started. _Better to come right out with it_, she thought.

"Anne Hawley actually approached us about finding the missing works. She…hired us to try and find the 13 pieces stolen from the Gardner. She seems to think that we'll have luck where authorities have not. She assured us that nobody else knew she had hired us, but, we are all beginning to suspect someone else out there knows we're on the hunt."

He glared at Dan and Amy alternatingly.

Dan added, "Amy and I were attacked yesterday at the museum. We were locked in the records vault for several hours and then a thug of epic proportions beat us up in the alley out back."

Amy indicated her bandaged cheek.

"That's it. This stops now." Dr. Rosenbloom said. Before either Amy or Dan could figure out what he was doing, he had pulled out his cell phone and punched in a number. He held it to his ear, ringing.

Amy was sure it was the police and she almost lunged for the phone.

"Anne? This is Mark Rosenbloom."

He was silent for a moment as Anne Hawley spoke into the phone.

"Yes, yes it has been a long time. I suspect you know why I'm calling. Did you hire my son to help you find your missing works?"

Silence. Finally, they could hear talking on the other end, but it was too indistinct to make out what she was saying.

Mark continued, "I'm sitting with him right now, and, with Amy and Dan Cahill" he said their last name with obvious distaste on his tongue "who were attacked leaving your museum."

Louder indistinct talking through the phone. "Yes, both of them."

More indistinct chatter, but this time very animated and longer. Amy and Dan shot each other a glance. Amy had a feeling she would have to fold Dr. Rosenbloom fully into the Cahill world after this conversation with Anne Hawley. It was probably about time. He was in this up to his neck now.

"Thank you, thank you very much, I'll text you the address. Come as quickly as you can."

Mark hung up the phone. "She's on her way."

In the time it took Anne Hawley to get to the Rosenbloom's home, Amy and Dan had time to fill Mark in on the whole Cahill family including Grace and the branches. They told him about the original hunt for the 39 clues and the serum. They told him more about fighting the Vespers and Jake and Atticus' role. They told him all about J. Rutherford Pierce and how Amy had nearly died because of the serum and finally, they told him about the Outcast, their estranged Grandfather. They had managed to squeeze the entire story of the Cahills into about 40 minutes. He sat in silence for most of it, listening intently, interjecting when his path had crossed theirs and lining up their stories together. They finally finished up by telling him about the nearly completed new headquarters in Cambridge; a dozen blocks from his house.

Just then, a single ping from the front door sounded and Mark rose to answer it.

"Mark Rosenbloom, it's been too long," Anne Hawley said clasping his hand in both of hers.

"Hello Anne, it _has_ been too long," he said curtly, clearly holding back anger toward Anne.

"I need to do some explaining, don't I?" She said, Mark gave a small nod, gesturing for her to enter.

He led her to the kitchen where the kids had set up a makeshift detective bullpen. She talked at length about her desire to have the works returned. She and he knew intimate details about the robbery and they were able to talk specifics, Mark remembering specifics that Amy and Dan didn't know. They were able to chat at length. She explained why she needed Amy and Jake's help in trying to find the works. She explained about retiring next year. She was astonished to learn that the kids had been attacked at the museum. She genuinely didn't know anyone who knew that she had hired them to find them.

After an exhaustive discussion, everyone sat quietly around the table. It felt freeing to Amy to have everything out in the open with Mark. It was almost like letting a parent in on a secret she'd been holding for her entire life.

Whatever Mark decided would be final. She wouldn't be able to change his mind. She just had to hope that he knew everything now and would still allow them to work on the recovery.

He stared at Amy. "You really want to do this don't you?"

She nodded and simply said "yes."

"I doubt I can stop my sons from joining you if they choose. I guess the best I can hope for is that you can find these works of art before somebody gets hurt again."

_Or worse_, Dan thought.

Amy gave him a small smile.

Dan whooped with joy. "Alright!" was all he said. Realizing the seriousness of the situation and toning it down.

"Don't Cahills have any sort of security? I mean, if you've been attacked, I think it's time for some security."

Anne spoke, "I have several security men I could assign you, if you wanted."

"No, I won't use any outside help. I have friends and relatives that we can use for security if we need. However, the bigger issue is finding out who knows about your request Anne. You have a leak, or a mole in your organization and they aren't happy you've enlisted the Cahills to find these works."

This sparked a memory in Dan. He pulled out his cell phone and showed the list of names to Mark and Anne. "Do any of these names ring a bell for you?"

Mark's eyes got wide at Phillippe Calabrese's name and Anne's eyes took on a quizzical, thoughtful look.

"This is Bianca's father's name. Where did you get this list?" Mark asked wide-eyed.

"These were people who had created chatter leading up to or after the robbery back in 1990. They had been talking about the museum, the works, or were in some way associated with the robbery." Dan said, without giving information that they each had a dossier in the Janus database.

"That can't be, Danica Simonson replaced Bianca as collections director in 1993, she wasn't even around when the robberies happened."

"Do you recognize any of the other names on the list?" Amy asked gently to either of them.

"No, I only recognize Phillippe, Bianca's father who was in Portugal his whole life. He died about 5 years after Bianca. I can't imagine what he had to do with the robberies. That must be a false trail." But his face had taken on a dark look as if he were remembering something unpleasant.

Amy looked over at Anne, who hesitated only a moment before saying, "No, I don't recognize any of the other names."

"I'll need to get going" Anne said as she rose to leave. "I'm glad to know you'll still be looking Amy and Jake. Mark, thank you for any help you can give. I appreciate it more than you know."

The three of them watched her retreat out the front entrance into the Boston night.


	21. Chapter 20

Ch 20

"Ok, so, what do we know about the names on this list?" Dan asked the next day in the evening as they all sat around the library at Attleboro.

"We know Alistair Oh didn't steal the works," Amy said.

"We can probably guess Phillippe Calabrese didn't either," Jake offered "seeing as his daughter was a curator at the museum. I just wish I knew why his name was even _on_ this list."

Amy slowly went through the list, copying the names in a notebook she had started.

Quigley O'Reilly

Antonio Marcellius

Phillippe Calabrese

Alastair Oh

Danica Simonson

Atlas Smith

Marcus Starling

She crossed Phillippe Calabrese and Alistair Oh off tentatively.

"We know that Danica Simonson took over at the museum as curator of collections for Bianca in 1993. We don't know anything about her prior to that, but why take the job if you know where the stolen works went? She doesn't seem to fit."

"I agree. It would have been in her best interest to find the works as soon as possible. It would have made her look like a rock star!" Atticus offered.

Amy sighed. "If it was Atlas Smith, he was only the handler for the works. He's no art collector. If he has them somewhere, it will take forever to try and find them. He's probably moved them hundreds of times in the last 25 years."

"He wouldn't have been quiet about it either." Dan said darkly, "He is a real straight-shooter and doesn't mess around." Dan remembered their last run-in with Atlas in Nova Scotia and a shiver went up his spine. "I never want to see that guy again if I can help it."

Amy nodded. Neither did she. "So, who's left?"

Atticus read the names to the group.

"We need to find out more about the remaining people. Are any of them still alive? I mean, if his robbery is 25 years old, these people all have to be older than 50 now!" Jake said

"Good, that leaves us three unknown names. Quigley O'Reilly, Marcus Starling and Antonio Marcellius." Dan mused.

"I'll try googling them and see if anything comes up." Atticus offered.

"Don't bother, I did that two nights ago and nothing." Dan said defeatedly.

"Let's get upstairs and start plugging these names into the comm center and see what the Cahill machine produces." Jake said, standing and offering a hand to Amy.

"I'm putting a curfew on all of us," Amy said glancing at the clock. "We have normal lives to get to tomorrow and that means 10:00. No argument." Nobody did. In fact, Dan would have been happy to call it quits right now.

Up in the command center, they each took a different station and pulled up whatever database they could find. They split up the remaining names and began to search.

Amy spoke first after half an hour, "I've just read everything on the Cahill database about Marcus Starling. Nothing. He was a distant cousin of Sinead's father. He was a pretty normal Cahill as far as I can tell. Lived in Toronto, worked as a hedge-fund manager, never had any kids. Liked to go ice fishing and loved the Blue Jays. About as normal as anyone. I have no notes as to why his name was on that list. The only thing I could see what that he was present at several art auctions in the 1980's buying small-time art. Nothing more than a quarter-million dollars. Small peanuts in the art world. Unless he had a huge fortune stashed away from Cahill eyes, it wasn't him." She finished.

"It's really scary how much you have on people up here. I mean, your database could rival the FBI!" Jake said with amazement.

"Amy doesn't mess around when she rebuilds multimillion-dollar mansions. She's not the head of the family by accident." Dan said absently as he stared at a monitor.

They all worked until 10:00 buy nothing important came up. They weren't able to find Quigley O'Reilly's name at all and Antonio Marcellius only gave a social security number and a former address.

"Well, it's something at least. We can start with that tomorrow." Amy said, leading everyone out of the comm center. As an afterthought, she quickly dashed off an email to Cara.

_Cara, will you run a few names through your brain trust? _Antonio Marcellius, Quigley O'Reilley_ and _Marcus Starling_. We know Starling is an Ekat, but our system shows he's squeaky clean. Thanks for your help,_

_Amy_

"Maybe we'll get answers when we wake up," Amy said hopefully as they all trudged off to bed.

Jake was having trouble falling asleep that night. Amy lay sleeping peacefully in front of him, his body pressed up against hers. Something was eating at him. _Why hadn't he ever learned more about his mother's family? Didn't his father say something about Phillippe pulling a few strings and getting his mother into grad school at Harvard? Who did that?_ A Cahill_ Jake thought miserably to himself. Plus, didn't dad mention that Phillippe had died about 5 years after his mom? That would have made me in grade school! Why don't I have any memories of him? Did I ever meet him?_

Jake looked at Amy's sleeping form for a moment and decided; he slowly removed himself from her side without waking her. He threw on his jeans and headed for the door. Jake quietly closed the comm center door and headed for the furthest bank of monitors. Slowly, quietly, he typed his grandfather's name into the Cahill database. He hit 'enter'.

He could barely scroll through the pages and pages of information that suddenly showed up. There had to be gigabytes of data on his grandfather. _No, not my grandfather. I never met the man. He's just Phillippe Calabrese_.

Jake proceeded to read. Phillippe Calabrese amounted to a black-market dealer. He had a Cahill file a mile long. He had lived large. He had homes in Portugal, Milan and the Bahamas. He had a reputation as a guy who could get anything and he demanded a high price. Jake read about deal after deal after deal. After a while, he shut off the monitor and sat stone faced. It was a lot to absorb. He had gone twenty years without learning about his own family. _Now I know how Amy feels. _

He trudged back downstairs, feeling the weight of all of it hit him. He turned the corner to head to the master bedroom and was grabbed around the middle. Amy.

"Where did you go?" She said in the near darkness, a thin shaft of moonlight falling across her face, "I realized you were gone and came looking for you."

He hugged her back. I'll tell you all about it back in our room," Jake said exhaustedly.

They sat cross-legged on the bed, both lamps on. Jake started by telling Amy his suspicions and finished with what he had found in the comm center.

"Ames, my grandfather was a black-market dealer in all sorts of horrible things." Jake said with a shaky voice.

Amy could tell this was hitting him like a ton of bricks. She'd had her own moments the last several years of feeling the weight of family secrets. She knew all too well how he felt.

"Jake, none of that is your fault. You can't help who you're related to. Look at me? I'm related to some of the worst people on the planet, now and all through history, but I can't let it stop me." Amy reached over and took his hand.

Jake continued to stare at her with a torn expression. He was really rattled. Amy continued, "My grandfather tried to recreate 4 horrible disasters from history and very nearly succeeded. Do you think I'm proud that I have his DNA running through me? Grace disowned him and actually put out a kill order on him. I can't even imagine doing something like that!"

Jake looked up, "Grace put out a kill order on her ex-husband?"

Amy nodded. "Yes, when my mother was only 7."

Jake gave low whistle, "that's cold."  
"I know, right?" Amy said seeing a small break in Jake's demeanor. "You aren't your family's past. You are what you create for your future. Jake, you are a Rosenbloom through and through. I know your dad said you looked like your mom as a baby, but every single person I know who's met you and your father, says you are Mark's son. Your father has had a tremendous influence over you and what he didn't influence, Astrid did."

Jake looked at her and gave a smile. "You're right, all of that Nature vs Nurture stuff says it's the Nurture that determines 95% of who we become."

"See?" Amy said giving him a genuine smile.

"I guess you're right." He said with a sigh. I guess I just would have liked to have learned this from my dad and not from the Cahill command center.

Amy gave a dry laugh, "get in line. There are so many horrible secrets I've learned that way. I guess it's better to know than not know though."

"Maybe," Jake said, stripping off his jeans and crawling in bed.

As he and Amy snuggled back into sleep, he thought about her statement. He wasn't entirely sure he was better off now than he had been this afternoon.


	22. Chapter 21

Ch 21

The next day, after her art history class at Harvard, she texted Jake to meet her in Littauer Library where she wanted to research the missing works some more. There had to be something they were missing. Amy gathered a dozen books and sat at a long oak table near a small reading light. She opened her laptop and logged into the Harvard library card catalog. She was mid-way through her first search when she heard her name.

"Amy? Amy Cahill?" a tentative voice said from behind her. She turned, it was Trevor Jorgensen from the Gardner Museum. "I thought that was you!" His gigantic smile spread across his face.

Amy returned the smile, "Hi Trevor, what are you doing here?"

"I practically live at this library. My final thesis is about the Grand Masters of the Golden Age." Trevor said proudly.

"I guess I didn't realize you were still in school." Amy said amusedly.

"I'm graduating at semester, hopefully, I was supposed to be done in May, but I just couldn't get it done in time." Trevor shrugged. "What are you researching, maybe I can help."

"Yes please," Amy said genuinely. She needed all the help she could get. "I'm trying to search HOLLIS for anything on _The Concert_. I'd like to try and figure out why it was stolen."

"If you can figure that out, then you deserve a Congressional Medal of Honor." Trevor said ruefully. "People have been trying to find motive for 22 years."

_They're not Cahills_, Amy thought. _They don't have the entire Cahill network behind them. _

"Here's what I've found so far," Amy said spinning her laptop toward Trevor. He leaned in closer to Amy and began to scan the screen. He slowly moved the touch pad to move down the list.

"Wait!" Amy said, her heart pumping suddenly and her ears ringing. She had just spotted a name: Antonio Marcellius. It was a scholarly article written by him about _The Concert; use of light and tone_ from 1974. "Click on that one," she said pointing.

The article opened up. It appeared to be part of a senior thesis from then art student, Antonio Marcellius. The article was dull but well written highlighting the way light played across the piece from Vermeer. Amy and Trevor's heads were nearly touching as they read.

"Trevor, do a search for Antonio Marcellius."

Trevor's fingers flew across Amy's keyboard.

At that same moment, a familiar voice said, "Ames?"

Amy jerked away from the screen, and Trevor. She looked to her left and saw Jake walking toward them with a quizzical expression on his face. As he drew nearer, his expression changed briefly to one of jealousy, then to hardened 'hottie' as he fixed his features for competition. Jake closed the final few feet in two strides, "hello baby," and before she could stand, he had swept her hair to the left, leaned down and kissed her neck. His right his hand on her shoulder.

Her face grew hot and she gave a quick glance to Trevor. _Cut it out Jake_, she mentally messaged him. Jake was standing directly behind her, he was staring at Trevor unsmiling, looking like the Greek statue he so resembled.

Amy glanced back at Trevor, about to open her mouth to introduce them. Trevor's hands were slack on the keyboard and he was staring open-mouthed up at Jake, clearly putting the pieces together and feeling embarrassed.

Jake beat her to the introductions, "Hi, I'm Jake Rosenbloom, Amy's boyfriend, and you are?" Jake had put extra emphasis on 'boyfriend'. Trevor swallowed hard.  
"Uh, I'm Trevor. Trevor Jorgensen." He said lamely, clearly feeling threatened by Jake.

Amy stood, putting a little distance between the two. She turned to face Jake, hiding her face from view of Trevor. She gave Jake a scorching look that said _BACK OFF, WILL YOU?_

"Trevor's a graduate student here helping me research _The Concert_, Jake. He's **_ ." _**These last two words she said with great emphasis between clenched teeth. Jake simply gave a shrug as if to say, _I don't care. I'm not letting him flirt with you._

Amy gave him one last warning look and sat back down. Jake sat on her left, but pushed his chair right next to hers, so they were thigh to thigh. As added insurance, Jake put his right hand on Amy's thigh a little higher up than he should.

She pursed her lips and gave him her best death glare and removed his hand.

Trevor was speechless during this exchange but quickly recovered. "Um, we were just getting ready to search HOLLIS for this man," he said, pointing at the screen.

Jake leaned in to see the name; recognition dawning on his features.

Trevor hit 'enter'.

Only a few hits came up, the most recent from 1982. All of them were scholarly articles about _The Concert_ and all of them appeared as doctoral research.

"This, Antonio Marcellius, is there an author folio on him?" Amy said hopefully.

"Let me look. I've never heard of him, but that doesn't mean anything." Trevor added with a smile at Amy which quickly faded when he saw Jake's scowl.

"Thanks for your help Trevor," Amy said with a small smile back.

"I think there is something here," Trevor said slowly, reading to himself, "Hmmm, there is an Orcid ID listed here. Maybe we can look him up using that."

"Orcid ID?" Amy asked

Jake spoke, "It stands for Open Researcher and Contributor ID. It is a way for scholars to be properly credited for their research. It solves any problem that might arise from a common name among researchers. It's a 16-digit code assigned specifically to the individual so no matter if there are 12 people in the world with your exact name, your Orcid ID is unique and solves any name ambiguity that might exist. That way researchers are credited for their work properly. The numerical code acts as a universal language; numbers are numbers." he offered.

Both Amy and Trevor looked at him.

He continued, "each researcher around the world is given a specific number based on Chaldean Numerology. For example, the numerical value of the word collegiate is 8."

Trevor must have matched Amy look of puzzlement because Jake continued. "So, anything at the college level has to start with 8. Each nation is given the next digit so country of origin can be established. The United States has the number 1. The final four digits have something to do with the type of research he or she does. Blocks of numbers are reserved for medical, literary, scientific, education, you name it. You can learn a lot about a person just by looking at their Orchid ID number."

"I didn't know any of that." Amy said with awe.

Jake gave a small smile, "I've been writing my dad's Orchid ID on the bottom of every artifact my father has collected since I was in grade school."

"This code is 0000.0008.1978.8121" Trevor said. "I'm not familiar with this one. Let me Google it quick."

"It's OK, you don't need to, I know that code; 1978," Jake offered. "It's the University of Rome."

Dawning comprehension lit Amy's face. "Of course, you'd know that one." She said with a smile.

Trevor looked between Amy and Jake; all of a sudden, the room felt very small.

"Well, it looks like you can take it from here," Trevor said to Jake as he rose to leave.

Amy made to stop him, but he was quick and had already backed away several paces.

"See you later Amy, maybe we'll run into each other again." He gave her a small smile as he turned and walked away.

Amy turned to Jake, "Jealous much?" she said with wide eyes and a tight mouth.

"What? I walk in to the library where you said you'd be and I see you sitting cheek to cheek with some _grad_ student. What would you have done?"

"Given you the benefit of the doubt!" Amy said scathingly. "Jake, Trevor knows a lot about Vermeer, he was helping me!"

"Yeah, he was helping alright, he was helping himself." Jake said with a scoff.

Amy was disgusted. She slammed down the lid on the laptop and made to leave. She bumped her backpack against the stack of books on the table, sending them skittering across the table with a loud thump. Every eye in the vicinity turned to look at them. Jake had stood up too when Amy made to leave. Both of their faces turned red and they quickly made to scoop up the books when one book caught Amy's eye, _Dutch Masters with forward by Antonio Marcellius_. Both Jake and Amy stopped. The both quickly sat back down and made to read the forward.

Most of it was about the works of Vermeer and his contemporaries, but the final paragraph shed some light on Marcellius.

Amy read aloud:

I have devoted my life to studying the Dutch masters. Their work is often overlooked in the time they lived, but we have an opportunity to bring their work to light. I look forward to many more years studying and enlightening the world on these masters.

Author's note: This work is a culmination of all of his research. He splits his time between his homes in the Netherlands and New York City.

"That's it?" She cried.

"What's the copyright date?" Jake asked flipping to the very front of the book, "1989." He said answering his own question. "Ames, this guy had some connection to the University of Rome. I could call around if they have any more information on this Antonio guy."

Amy and Jake stood, Jake already had his cell phone in his hand, flipping through his contacts in Rome. "That would be great Jake. We need to find as much on him as we can. I think we need to go back through your mom's things to see if we have any notes. Maybe we can get Cara to dig around and find an address in the IRS records." Amy suggested.


	23. Chapter 22

Ch 22

That evening, the four of them were in Attleboro with Ian and Cara on Skype in the Comm Center.

"Cara, we need you to do some hacking on an 'Antonio Marcellius'. His last known address was New York City. He also had a home somewhere in the Netherlands. We don't have any more information than that."

"I'm on it," Cara said, flipping open a second laptop and busily typing away on the keys.

"We were able to find a little something out about Marcus Starling," Ian offered. "He was an aspiring art collector in the late 80's, but he seems to have lost the fever. He sold several of his collection off in the early 2000's and has been living a quiet life in Toronto ever since."

"Thanks, Ian" Amy said smiling. "Where are you and Cara now?"

"London, of course," Ian said with a smirk, "the only civilized place to be."

Jake rolled his eyes, which Ian caught and added, "Of course, you probably don't feel at home unless you're in the middle of some desert in Morocco, am I right, Rosenbloom?"

Jake rolled his eyes again, "At least you got my name right this time. I'll take that as progress."

"Alright, tone it down, you two, I have something." Cara interrupted.

"According to the US Treasury, Antonio Marcellius last filed US taxes in 1990. At that time, his address was 907 Fifth Avenue. There are no more records of him after that. It's like he just disappeared. No death certificate on file, no nothing. Vanished. I'll try the Netherlands and see what I can find."

"So, he's got an address in the states, that's something at least," Jake offered.

"Wait a minute!" Atticus shouted, "What was that address again?"

"907 Fifth Avenue," Dan repeated from memory.

Atticus lit up. "That address was on the news this week. I know it! Dan, Google it and see what comes up"

Dan looked confused, but did as his best friend requested, "Um, not much here, a picture of the building, it's pretty posh. Faces Central Park, on the swanky side. There's a Wikipedia page for the building."

Atticus was out of his chair now and was standing beside Dan, "keep scrolling, BINGO! I knew I'd heard about it this week!"

Dan read, "Notable resident, Hughette Clark's three condo's to be sold after execution of her will."

Atticus took over reading, "Reclusive copper heiress' estates to be sold within the year. Hughette Clark owned three condos at 907 Fifth Avenue, but had not lived in any of them in over 20 years. She had condos that took up the entire 8th floor and half of the 12th. The reclusive heiress was said to have lived exclusively at the Beth Israel Medical Center for the last 20 years. She was a notable donor to the arts in New York and the Corcoran Gallery in Washington D.C. Among her prized possessions were an Eduard Manet and a collection of Antoni Stradivari violins. Ms. Clark was the sole heir to the A. copper fortune of the last century. She was 104."

"But what does that have to do with the Gardner theft?" Amy asked.

"If you lived in a building where you knew a known art lover had homes, but wasn't ever in them," Dan started, but Atticus took over.

"you might want to store your stolen art collection there." Atticus said, face alight.

"So, you think these stolen works are just sitting in Hughette Clark's Fifth Avenue condo collecting dust?" Jake asked skeptically.

"It's not such a far-fetched idea." Ian piped up from the monitor. "Where better to store them than in plain sight?"

"Wait a minute though, Antonio Marcellius wouldn't have known that Hughette Clark wasn't coming back. That would have been very risky and if he disappeared in 1990, she would have still been living there. It says she didn't move to the hospital until '91." Amy exclaimed.

"Who's living in his condo now?" Jake asked.

"I'm on it," Dan said swiveling around to face a monitor. "Addresses are public domain" His fingers flying over the keys. "Do we know which number he lived in?"

"3C" Cara replied without looking up from her laptop.

Dan typed away for a few more seconds. "Hmm, that's odd, it shows nobody living there now. It says it is vacant."

"That's because it's for sale!" Atticus chimed in, looking over Dan's shoulder at click-bait that had popped up on the right side of the screen.

All four of them peered over Dan's shoulder. "Christie's auction house presents 907 Fifth Avenue, 3C. $3,956,000. 2 bedroom, 2 bath." Dan read to the crowd.

Jake whistled. "It too, can be yours for a cool $4 million. There goes that lead."

Amy was quiet. She was getting an idea. "Maybe not. Ian, how fast could you and Cara be to New York?"

Ian and Cara both looked up "By the morning I suspect. Why?"

"Because you're going to shop for real estate."


	24. Chapter 23

Ch 23

The next morning, Jake woke up to a text from a former professor in Rome. Antonio Marcellius had been a student for a semester back in the early 1980s. He had studied Renaissance art and he had an address in The Hague, Netherlands on record, which the University forwarded to his cell.

Cara and Ian caught the next flight for New York. A tentative plan was hatched. Ian would call the real estate broker and be his typical charming self, demanding that he and his young wife be allowed to tour the condo. Meanwhile, Amy and Jake would try to sneak up to the 8th floor and look for the paintings in Hughette Clark's many condos.

Dan and Atticus would remain in the comm center where they would each monitor a couple. Cara would try to digitally unlock the back servants' stairwell to the building so Amy and Jake could snake their way up. It was going to be risky. She needed to be inside the building in order to disarm it, plus buildings like these had doormen who were well trained to keep riff-raff out. Ian and Cara had to play the part perfectly or they would be arrested. Ian had pushed to have Amy accompany him on the tour, but she had argued that natural chemistry would be something the agent would look for in a newly married couple. Nobody could deny the chemistry between Ian and Cara.

The realtor agreed and at 1:00 Ian and Cara took up positions. They had gone shopping, it appeared, although, perhaps these were just their normal clothes; with Ian you never knew.

He stepped out of the limousine wearing a fine gray suit with impeccable tailoring and top grain saddle colored leather Tom Ford loafers. His Ray Ban sunglasses accentuated his dark skin and hair. Amy didn't think it would have been possible to outshine Ian, but Cara had done it. Isabelle Kabra would have approved. Cara had clearly gone to a tanning salon and her blond hair was artfully windswept. Her make-up was perfect and her manicured fingernails looked stunning as they wound their way around Ian's proffered arm. She wore an ivory silk off the shoulder blouse with strategically placed slits along the sleeves to show Cara's toned arms. She wore a tight black skirt that she had to give a tug down as she stepped out of the limo, followed by black Christian Louboutin stiletto heels.

Amy and Jake had positioned themselves across the street at the park.

"Holy shit," was Jake's only comment.

"Yeah," Amy offered lamely. She could never have pulled off that look.  
"What's 'holy shit'?" Dan asked through their mic.

"Nothing, everyone in position."

"You know we can hear you," Cara said discretely as she wiped her nose with her left hand to hide her words.

"Right, sorry." Jake offered.

"I see the realtor, she's pulling up now." Amy said. "Time for us to move."

Amy and Jake looked like any other New York Couple out for a jog in Central Park.

Amy had on black yoga pants and a fitted t-shirt that showed off her slim, fit body, her hair back in a pony tail. Jake wore a fitted Under Armor t-shirt and dry-wick pants that accentuated his muscular physique. The both had on sunglasses. The very picture of fitness on the Upper East Side.

They both set off at a jog toward Fifth Avenue and 72nd. They kept their eyes on Ian and Cara as they jogged. The realtor offered Ian her hand, of which Ian refused and simply looked up the exterior of the building. Ian knew this sort of clientele and they would have never shaken hands with a common realtor.

Amy and Jake stopped at the corner and pretended to stretch, listening to their conversation.

"Thank you for meeting us here," Cara offered when Ian refused her handshake. "We're desperate to find just the right place and Fifth Avenue is the only location we are considering." She said with a simpering smile.

"And, you have sufficient funds to purchase on the Upper East Side?" the realtor asked eyeing Ian's suit and Cara's heels.

Ian was waiting for this, "How dare you question our wealth! Do you know who I am?" Ian asked, continuing, not giving the realtor a chance to respond, "I am Ian Kabra, I assume your simple mind has at least heard of the Kabra family?"

The realtor shrank back and stammered, "uh, yes, uh, of course, sir, I-I didn't mean any disrespect to you-"

"Of course, you did! You have to weed out unacceptable buyers at the door. Now can we please move inside or do we have to continue to stand out here like common poodles looking for a place to urinate?"

"Ease off Kabra," Jake said quietly. "You want to get into the Condo, don't you?"

"Amy, Jake, as soon as Cara crosses the threshold of the building, she'll be able to deactivate the locking mechanism of the back door. Time to move." Dan's voice said in their ear.

"I'm going to shut off joint communication now." Atticus said, "From now on, you can communicate with us, but not with each other, we'll act as relay."

Cara and Ian disappeared inside the building. Amy and Jake made their way across 5th Ave down 72nd and the side of the building. "We're here Dan," Amy whispered as she made to bend down and redo her laces.

"Cara, now, they're ready," Dan said

Amy heard a 'click' and Jake pulled the servant's entrance door open. They were in.

"Dan, we have a problem. There's a security camera here. We've been spotted." Jake said with alarm in his voice.

"I've already disabled it, I've got it on a continuous loop for the back stairwell and all hallways." Dan said

"Awesome, little brother," Amy said smiling as she and Jake sprinted up the stairs two at a time.

When they reached the 8th floor, Dan called to Cara, "Cara, they're in position, unlock 8E."

A moment later they heard a click. They were in the first condo.

"These buildings were built in an era when homeowners had servants for cooking, cleaning and taking care of children. Each condo will have an access door with a back stairway or elevator for servants to use. They were never allowed to use the main entrance. They were to be perfunctory, not elaborate. Their quarters were plain compared to the rest of the home." Amy said as they entered the servant's room.

"Thanks Professor," Dan said, "Do you mind keeping the narrative to a minimum? We need to keep these lines open."

Amy rolled her eyes. The condo was musty and dark. Mahogany paneling and heavy drapery covered the walls. The windows were covered in layers of dust, as was the furniture. The furnishings were elaborate however and several notable artists hung on the walls.

"Wow, they weren't kidding. This Hughette Clark had some amazing taste in her day. You should see this place." Jake spoke with reference in his voice. They had made it out to the main gallery of the home where many priceless works of art hung on the walls, neglected and forgotten.

"This is heartbreaking," Amy noted, sadness in her voice. Thinking about the last time these works saw human eyes.

"Uh guys, you're going to have to look faster, Ian's really pulling out all the Brit pomp he has and the realtor is wearing thin. I'm trying to tell him to tone it down, but I don't know how much longer she'll put up with him. Plus, that condo is a lot smaller than the ones you're snooping around in." Dan said

"Ok, we need to split up then, meet you back here in a few minutes," Amy said giving Jake a wink. They both pulled out their flashlight phones. There was plenty of notable art on the walls, but none of it was the stolen Gardner art.

"Do you have anything Jake?"

"No, I think we need to go on to the next condo."

Amy and Jake made their way toward the front door.

"Dan, are we good?" Jake asked as he made to pull open the door.

"As far as I can tell, yes, but watch where you step," Dan added

Jake looked quizzically at Amy, mouthing Dan's words back to her, _watch where we step?_

It became instantly clear what Dan meant. The building had apparently been using the vestibule between 8E and 8W as a storage space. Rolls of carpet, palates of light bulbs and spare railing parts were stacked randomly in the 200 sq. feet space. The building had decided Hughette Clark wasn't coming back, so they had reclaimed some of the square footage for themselves.

"Make sense, I suppose." Amy said, stepping over piles and heading toward the next condo.

"Seriously you two, Ian won't last much longer, it's not going well." Dan said.

"I've tried telling him you two need more time," Atticus said forlornly "but he's dug himself a big hole now."

Jake opened the other condo door and they entered.  
"Atticus, turn my coms back on and let me talk to him," Amy said.

"Alright, your funeral," Atticus said

"Ian, it's Amy, we need more time up here. These places are huge and we've only just now entered the second one. Whatever game you're playing, you need to back down. Come up with some sad story that gives you sympathy instead of being bold as brass. This may be our one chance to find the works." Then, as an added thought, she said, "I need you to do this for me. Just for me, nobody else Ian, please."

There was a moment's pause when she wasn't sure if he'd heard her. Then, "alright, I'll do it for you, Amy." He whispered back.

Soft sobbing came back over the comm. It was Ian. He was going to milk it for all it was worth, he had bought them some time.

"Att, cut our communications with them, I can't handle much more of this," Jake said, giving Amy a withering stare.

"Hey, it's what we needed." Amy said as she fanned out away from Jake toward the salon gallery. "I'll try in here first, you take one of the other rooms,"

They split up and spent 15 minutes looking in every nook and cranny they could find. They even tried to find hidden bookcases or storage rooms. No luck. The art wasn't here.

"What do we do, should we try the 12th floor?" Jake asked Amy.

"No dice, you're out of time," Dan said "You better head toward the servant's stairwell, Ian and Cara are leaving the condo now. She'll only have access to the doorways a few more minutes."

"Time to go," Jake said, heading toward the kitchen.

As they ran down the gallery, a painting of a stately home caught Amy's eye.

"Jake, look at this," she said shining her flashlight on the painting. It was enormous. It had to be 8 feet tall and 12 feet long. "Bellosguardo" Jake read the brass plaque at the bottom.

"You two better get out NOW" came Dan's voice in their ear. "They're in the lobby!"

"Go Amy, go!" Jake said, ushering her ahead of him toward the kitchen. They flung the back door open began to fly down the staircase.

"Stall Cara, we aren't going to make it!" Jake shouted into his earpiece.

"No good, the realtor is at the door," Dan said


	25. Chapter 24

Ch 24

"Do SOMETHING, we have 4 more flights to go!" Jake shouted again. Below them, a door opened on a lower floor and they froze flattening themselves against the wall.

"Dan," Amy whispered. "Someone else is in the stairwell, we're trapped."

"It's too late, Cara and Ian are outside now, they can't get back in. The realtor is walking away." Atticus said frantically.

"What are we going to do?" Amy said with a note of panic rising in her voice.  
Jake looked over the railing below. He could make out a cleaning woman wielding a vacuum cleaner and a crate of cleaning supplies. She had ear buds in and was dancing to a beat only she could hear. Jake thought for a moment.

"I might have an idea, but I need everyone to turn off all comms, even with us." Jake said

"What? Why?" Atticus said.

"Just tell Ian and Cara to meet us on the far side of Central Park West and 72nd." Jake said, grabbing Amy's hand and heading toward the staircase.

"Jake, what are you-?" Atticus started.

"Do it! Now!" Jake shouted, pulling Amy toward the lower floors.

He looked back at her with a flirtatious wink and said, "just go with it."

"Uh, what?" Amy managed to get out before Jake pressed her up against the wall, arms above her head and began to kiss her passionately. He tugged at her waist to pull her closer to him and also work his way down the staircase.

Amy was taken aback for a moment and then realized the brilliance of his plan. Nobody liked an audience when they were trying to get busy. They would make this cleaning woman so uncomfortable she would beg to let them out. They could hear her coming toward the landing again, Jake rounded the final stairwell. She could see them now. Jake had his hand up in Amy's hair and his other hand on her ass pulling her toward the wall. They crashed into it with a thud. This caught the woman's attention. Just then, as if on cue, Amy leapt up into Jake's arms, wrapping her legs around his waist and tugging at his shirt to get it over his head. Jake obliged, grabbing it behind his head and tearing it off, flinging it down the staircase and landing at the cleaning woman's feet.

Amy could just make out the cleaning woman's face now. She stood stock still, mouth agape staring at the two lovers, apparently oblivious to her.

_Come on, _thought Amy, _if you don't interrupt us soon, we'll both be naked! _Jake was way too good at seduction. He made to pull off her shirt and Amy had no choice but to go with it. She slid back to the floor, and briefly stopped kissing Jake to start to remove her shirt when it happened.

"¿Qué estás haciendo?" the cleaning woman shouted up toward them.

_Oh, thank God_, Amy thought, freezing instantly and looking down at her. She and Jake disentangled themselves from each other and had the common decency to look embarrassed.

"I'm sorry," Jake said, moving down the staircase with Amy in tow to retrieve his shirt. He stood right next to the cleaning woman and kept eye contact with her longer than necessary. His bare chest inches from her. Amy looked at the ground, tucking a spare hair behind her ear. The cleaning woman, clearly flustered, bent and retrieved his shirt, handing it to him.

"Hablas Ingles?" Jake asked her in Spanish. She shook her head, no.

He gave her one of his trademark smiles as he went to put his shirt back on still inches from her. She took a step back as he flexed to put on his shirt. Amy had to bite her lip as she watched the cleaning woman so unnerved with this Adonis only inches from her, shirtless.

"No hay problema," he said in flawless Spanish, giving her a wink. "Nos atrapaste, puede guardar un secreto?" he spoke, Amy having no idea what he was saying.

She nodded and blushed, looking at the ground,

"Dejé mi llave escaleras arriba, ¿puedes dejarnos salir?" Jake said, looking down at the ground briefly, then up through the top of his eyes at her, giving her one of his best smoldering looks.

"Sí," she said, appraising Amy closely, "ella es una nína bonita, la tratas bien!" The cleaning woman said, wagging her finger in Jake's face. She turned and headed toward the floor below and freedom.

Jake turned and gave Amy a wink, it was working!

At the door, the woman waved her key card and pushed it open. Amy went first, giving a simple, "gracías" as she exited.

Jake on the other hand, stopped mid-door and turned to the woman, "eres tan amable como hermosa," he said giving he one final wink and stepped outside.

She huffed and put a hand on her heart, looked at Amy and shouted, "el es un rompecorazones!" as Jake and Amy retreated. Amy looked over her shoulder as they turned on 72nd. She couldn't help but smile, Jake had a way with women, no doubt. There was no way she could have gotten them out of that jam.


	26. Chapter 25

Ch 25

Amy and Jake jogged the entire distance across central park and found the limo sitting at 72nd and Central Park West with Ian and Cara inside. As Jake and Amy slid into the back seat, they couldn't help but notice the smirks on Ian and Cara's faces. Cara so close to bursting out in laughter that Amy knew what had happened; Dan hadn't turned off their communications at all and everyone had heard the entire stairwell incident live and in person.

"Welcome back love birds," Dan's voice came across all of their earpieces. "Atticus and I are busy sopping up our vomit in the comm center so you'll need to give us a minute." Ian and Cara started cracking up.

Jake just gave a massive sigh and hung his head, shaking it from side to side. Amy turned purple and tried to hide behind Jake's back.

"We saw the whole thing live from my laptop," Cara said after a second round of giggles gripped everyone but Jake and Amy.

"Yeah, and Atticus translated for everyone," Dan added

"Very smooth, Jake, I'm not sure even I could have done better," Ian said, appraising Jake and Amy in the back seat.

"Thanks Ian, that's the highest praise you give," Jake said raising a mock toast to Ian.

"All that and we didn't learn anything!" Amy said, slamming her fist into the seat. This woke everyone from their giggling.

"That's not true Ames," Jake said. "I think we got a clue at the very end."

They filled in the other teams about the two condos the searched and the massive amounts of art and instruments they found.

"Bellosguardo" Jake said. "It must be another of her homes."

"I'll Google it," Atticus said.

As they drove back to Attleboro in the limo, Atticus filled them in on the Santa Barbara ocean-front home of Hughette Clark.

"It says it was built in the 1930's after sustaining damage in a 1925 earthquake. It was state of the art for its day and Hughette paid a massive amount of money to have a 750-acre lake put in between the property and the ocean." Atticus reported.

"But, just like her condos, she hadn't been to the property in decades. The last reported visit was in 1952. She kept a staff on call 24/7 to be ready for her visit at any time, so the grounds were constantly maintained and the home was cleaned every other day. They were to be on 48-hour notice at any given time." Dan added

"The works may be there somewhere!" Amy said excitedly.

"I think we know the next destination now!" Atticus said, "Santa Barbara, here we come!"

"No, not yet," Amy said with brow furrowed. "Something isn't right. I feel like we're grasping at straws."

"I agree," Jake said, inclining his head toward Amy. "Those paintings may be in California, but they could just as easily be in St. Petersburg! We need some hard and fast proof before we go searching the globe on a wild goose chase. It's different this time, we're all back in school and, for Att and me at least, we have to answer to our dad this time."

"What?" Dan shouted, incredulous. "You're pulling the plug just when we have our first good lead?"

"Dan, this isn't a lead, it's not even a trail, it's a whiff, a puff of smoke," Amy said. "We have to have more to go on."

"But-" Dan started again, before Amy cut him off.

"No, I'll call Anne Hawley and see if she has any information on the Bellosguardo estate for us. We'll need everything we can get our hands on." Amy said firmly, "Meanwhile, we are going back to classes. All of us" eyeing Dan suspiciously. "Plus, the Cambridge headquarters will be done within the month and we'll have to move in."

Cara nodded, "I need to get over there and really get to work, then I need to update all of you on how things will work in the new and improved comm center."

Amy frowned, "There are still names we need to research and find out about. I have a suspicion that if we find Quigley O'Reilley, we'll find the art."

Amy spent the next two week making biweekly trips to Cambridge 40 miles away. She and Dan spent the rest of their days together studying in the library or in family room spread out, papers and books everywhere. It was nice being back with just her brother in their home. She knew these days like this in Attleboro were limited. Even after college, they wouldn't be moving back here, just the two of them. It was changing and they both knew it.

Jake and Atticus were back into a routine in Cambridge too. They went to classes every day, Monday, Wednesday and Friday their classes ended at 3:30 in the same building, so they walked home together. It was just like being back in Rome, only, everyone spoke English and they had their childhood home to retreat to instead of a dark and musty high-rise apartment that never felt welcoming.

The hunt for the artwork had come to a stall, which was fine with Atticus, truth be told, he wasn't all that keen on finding it anyway. Sure, he wanted it back in the museum, who wouldn't, but he was very content with the way things were now. He had his big brother, his dad and his best friend all within a short car ride. He and Jake spent their weekends in Attleboro with Dan and Amy. He loved going there. There was something really fun and relaxing about the four of them being together. _They were like a family_, he thought, _I gained a brother and sister when we met the Cahills. _

One November weekend, the four of them were spread out in the family room watching the latest spy suspense episode on Netflix. Dan in a fat arm chair, Atticus sprawled out on the carpet and Jake and Amy curled up like spoons on the couch.

A formal metallic computerized voice sounded, "incoming message from Gideon. Incoming message from Gideon."

Amy jumped up so quick she fell off the couch, Dan was on his feet too. That sound didn't happen for just any email, it was an urgent message waiting them in the comm center if nobody was manning it. She had programmed the house to alert her at once. The four of them dashed to the attic.

"Incoming message from Gideon, please attend at once," the voice repeated.

"Relay message, clearance _Amy Cahill_" Amy said loudly to the room as she and Dan swiftly moved around, turning on sleeping monitors.

There was a pause as the system verified her voice command, "clearance granted, Amy Cahill" the female voice said.

On the main monitor, Cara's face lit the screen. "Amy, I found something. It's not much, but you need to know about it."

"Where are you, Cara?" Amy asked

"I'm back in London with Ian. We decided to make this home base for the remainder of the year. I'm taking correspondence classes to finish up school." Amy nodded. "You look good, how's Ian?"

"Never mind that now, what I have to say is urgent." Cara said brusquely. "I found the name Quigley O'Reilly buried deep, I mean Mariana Trench, in a file today. This guy doesn't want to be found Amy."

"What sort of file was it?" Dan asked, leaning forward in his chair.

"That's just it, I was searching bank files for Ian. He wants to try and trace his father Vicram's finances back to their source. I had gotten as far back as records in the Turks and Caicos Islands when I saw this name. It was in a completely unrelated account, but the name caught my eye. "

Amy looked around the room at the boys. They all had looks of confusion on their faces.

Cara continued, "These off-shore banks have crazy tight online security so I couldn't stay too long or they'd know they had a mouse in their system. I don't think I tripped up their defenses, but I better not go back in for a while. I downloaded what I could get my hands on and I'll forward it to you now." As an added thought she said, "Amy, this guy spent a big chunk of change in the last month. I don't think that was coincidence."

"Thanks Cara, we owe you one," Amy said. "Tell Ian we all say hi."

A ping on a neighboring monitor indicated Cara had sent the file. Dan opened it and they all crowded around the screen which was instantly transformed by terabytes of numbers filling a spreadsheet.

"Uh, what am I looking at?" Jake voiced.

"This is the entire history of one Quigley O'Reilly courtesy of the off-shore bank account he owns." Atticus said smiling. Numbers weren't his love, but he understood them regardless. He glanced at Dan who had a knack for numbers. Dan's eyes were scanning the document as fast as it was loading and he had a fixed smile on his face. Dan was in the zone.

"Dan, what are you seeing?" Amy said, clearly just as confused as Jake.

"Um, give me a minute he said," lost in the data.

Atticus, who was about three steps ahead of Dan began to explain, "What we are looking at are the dates and transaction amounts of every dollar that has exchanged hands with Quigley O'Reilley for the last 25 years. That's why this file is so big. It's like a giant bank register. These off-shore accounts can't be tracked, or taxed, which is why they're so popular with criminals and the extremely wealthy the world over."

Dan had awoken from his math coma, and added, "we can trace what Quigley O'Reilly did on a specific date and the amount he paid. It's like a bread crumb trail. Since we have found nothing on this guy in any of our searches, and that's saying something, I suspect Quigley O'Reilly is a pseudonym. The trouble is, who is he in real life?"

"Are the files current? Is he still using this account?" Jake asked.

"Yes, they date to earlier this month." Dan said, "So that proves he's still alive."

"How can we find out who this guy is?" Amy said, frustrated.

"What about donors to the museum?" Jake offered. "They have deep pockets and usually are art collectors themselves."

Amy thought for a minute, "Maybe, but why would a donor to the Gardner steal from them? That doesn't make sense."

"Maybe not Gardner donors," Atticus suggested. "Maybe it was someone who wanted Vermeer in their private collection."

"How do we find that out?" Dan asked.

Amy quick took a seat at the next terminal and fired up the monitor. Her fingers flew over the keys as she typed in a search in the Cahill mainframe. The boys leaned to the right to see what she was doing.

"I don't know why I didn't think to do this before," Amy said, shaking her head. She hit search.

Vermeer's works began to appear as thumbnails on the screen. They all looked as Amy scrolled. They for the most part, were in museums scattered across The Netherlands, Germany and the United States. One or two were in private hands. Amy clicked on the private owners, they were owned by the same man who had dedicated a collection to the Dutch masters, Thomas Kaplan.

"What do we know about Kaplan?" Dan asked.

"Thomas Kaplan? Are you kidding?" Atticus said, looking up from the screen, "he's the most famous art collector living! He has thousands of masters, his favorite are the Dutch masters, specifically, Rembrandt. He has like, 40 or 50 of them."

"So maybe he's our thief!" Dan said excitedly.

"No so fast Dan, this man is made out of money, he doesn't need to steal anything. He could buy every last Rembrandt in the world and have lots left over. He's famous in the art collector world." Amy said, shaking her head.

"Well, maybe he wanted _The Concert_ and he couldn't have it!" Dan replied.

"No Dan, it's not logical. He's not our thief, plus he's a major philanthropist and wildlife conservator. He would see a theft as a travesty." Amy said, shaking her head.

"What if you held a major grudge against someone like him who could buy whatever art he wanted and you weren't as successful but had expensive taste?" Jake offered.

All three of them turned to look at him. "What are you saying?" Amy asked.

"It's not going to be a philanthropist who steals art, it's going to be someone who _wishes_ they were a philanthropist." Jake said with emphasis.

"Exactly. Someone who has a taste for fine art, but a McDonald's budget." Atticus added.

"Someone who has the knowledge but not the means." Amy added.

They all sat quietly, thinking for a minute. Suddenly, Dan whipped back to his screen and began to pull up a new search. His fingers flew this time as they all turned to watch. Finally, he hit 'search'.

"Bingo." Dan said with finality

They all leaned in to see what Dan had searched. A single search query popped up.

_Antonio Marcellius to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy. _


	27. Chapter 26

Ch 26

Across the continent, the man known as Tony sat back on his heels, surveying his handiwork for the day. He loved seeing the crisp, hard line of a well-manicured lawn. He had been caretaker of this beautiful estate since the late 1980's. He had never met the owner, in fact, nobody on the staff ever had. He didn't care. He took great pride in beauty. Any sort of beauty.

He slowly walked to the carriage house on the property, his home. He was the only live-in staff on the property. He liked that too. Solitude. Even though Santa Barbara was a bustling metropolis full of the rich and famous, he preferred the throngs to remain on the outside of the gate. He hoped now that the owner had died this estate would remain untouched. He had heard they had set up a foundation to manage the estate now that she was gone, but the family was roiled in legal battles over her will. It could take years, decades to decide what was to happen to his beloved Bellaguardo. In a way, he felt like he owned the place. Sure, staff came and went every single day, and he liked the feeling of making all the decisions on what happened to the grounds there, but he had a deeper secret for wanting nothing to change. An expensive secret. A secret, if it came out, would sent him to jail for the rest of his life. That's why he had paid the underbelly of Boston to keep their ears out for him. If anything were to reach their ears, they were to take care of it-immediately.

He began walking back to the main house to close it up for the night. He hadn't heard anything in a few weeks, which was promising. No news was good news, after all. However, a month or two earlier, he had gotten word from one of the worst kingpins in Boston that the gallery curator, who was set to retire, was rekindling her desire to find the missing works. _Like hell she is, not if I can stop it,_ he had thought when he was told. He had put in an order to scare away, or buy off the pursuers; he didn't care which. Most cops were living on government salaries and were happy to take a payout to stay silent. The curator however, had seemingly, hired teenagers. That didn't make any sense. Upon research, they appeared to be filthy rich teenagers with no adult supervision. _I don't want to know too much more,_ he had thought, but if they start snooping around anymore, _kill them_ he had instructed.

He walked through the main floor of the estate and made his way to the grand curved staircase in the foyer. At the second floor, he made his way around the twisting passages to the back of the estate, where the servant's quarters were. He pushed a knot of wood and a bookcase slid forward. He silently entered the dark room, closing the door behind him. He had to see his baby, his magnum opus, his reason for living, his master piece.

He pushed a button on the wall and the ancient electrical lighting lit a single bulb over a rough canvas tacked to the wall. He knew it needed re-stretching and a proper frame, but that would never happen without attracting suspicion. So, he admired the art he had loved from his youth when he had been a student and written his masters thesis about this painting. He had sat in front of it in the lone chair at the gallery and admired it for years before he got enough capital to hire thieves to make it his own. They had botched the job, badly. They had hacked the art and it would never be the same again, but it was his. It was too dangerous to try and sell the other pieces they thieves had taken. He had only instructed them to steal the Rembrandts and the Vermeer, the other pieces should have never been taken, but he was grateful they had taken them, it drew suspicion away from himself. Nobody would ever assume all 13 pieces were still together all these years later.

He ran a tender hand down the side of the work. Nobody would ever admire Vermeer the way he would. He had spent his entire fortune to pay the thieves to own it. He'd had to declare bankruptcy and change his name, but thanks to a generous woman who had more money than God, he was able to recoup his losses and then even be hired on as head of estate maintenance for her California mansion. How easy it had all been. Use his skill as an art historian to win the graces of an old woman, visit her in the hospital and express a shared interest in the art she so loved, and boom, she had written him a check for 5 million dollars to help him start a collection for the great city of Tulsa, at least, that's what he told her he was doing. Never would she have imagined that her millions helped him start a new life, and the art he stole was right under her nose this whole time. Good investments and a strong stock market had grown his 5 million into nearly half a billion dollars now. He didn't need to work as maintenance staff, but it kept him close to his collection.

Antonio Marcellius turned off the light and locked the hidden room away for another month when he would dare to look at his precious collection once more.


	28. Chapter 27

Ch 27

Amy had Jonah, Ham, Ian and Cara pulled up on Skype. They needed to pool their resources to find any link between Antonio Marcellius and Quigley O'Reilly. Everyone was using their separate Cahill connections to search. Ian was searching the Lucian databases, Cara the Ekat. Jonah had the Janus branches all actively looking and Ham had dialed into the Tomas branches. Dan sat off in one corner with Atticus attempting to find any pattern for the money transfers and investments. Jake had taken up a seat in the middle of the comm center while Amy paced around him. Finally, after 5 exhaustive minutes of watching her bite her nails and pace, he wheeled his chair over to where she'd be on her next pass and grabbed her around the waist pulling her down to his lap.

"Chill," he whispered into her ear.

She turned and looked at him. Anxiety spread across her face, "I feel like we're close, but I feel so helpless."

"They'll find something, I know it. Just give them some time. How about we go for a walk." Jake said beginning to stand up

"No, I want to stay here." Amy said

They'll text you the minute they find anything, you and I should move for a bit. Trust me," he said, taking her hand. He gave a 'fingers walking' signal to Att as he left the attic. Atticus simply nodded and turned back to the screen.

They made it downstairs and sat to put on their shoes. Amy finished before Jake and stared at an imperfection in the marble tile about 6 feet in front of her. She was thinking, and Jake knew it.

"What is it?" He asked.

"How did anyone know we were looking for the art in the first place?" Amy said, standing finally and turning to Jake. "I mean, amateurs have been looking for those works for nearly 25 years now. They don't get assaulted in alleys, only Dan and me."

Jake took her hand and started toward the back yard and the grounds beyond, "I guess it's just the Cahill curse," he said lightheartedly.

Amy frowned. "It's more than that. Think about it. Anne Hawley said she was certain nobody else knew. Why would she lie about that? If anything happened to you or me, she wouldn't get her art. It was in her best interest to be honest with us. I don't think she was lying."

Jake was catching on to her meaning now, "which means that somebody else there had to have known you were there as more than just interested art students, but who?"

A look of dawning comprehension spread over Amy's face, "Oh no, I can't believe I fell for that…" she said beginning to fish in her pocket for something."

"What are you talking about?" Jake asked

"Trevor." Amy said fishing his business card out of her pocket. "It all makes sense. He must have been bought off by the thieves somehow. Anne told him the real reason for Dan and my visit. He must have locked us in the vault and tipped off the goon to attack us in the alley!"

Jake said, indignant. "That slime ball had the gall to sidle up to you in the library!"

Amy sighed a big sigh, "Jake, that was no random visit, he's been following us! What do you want to bet he knew we had gone to New York!" Amy looked at the business card and flipped it over on the back where Trevor had written his personal cell number. "I have an idea, but we'll need the whole team here to make it work. Come on!"

Amy turned and ran back toward the mansion. She needed everyone on Skype before they cut the connection. This was going to be good and they were going to catch a crook.

"So, let me understand this" Ian said, "You expect to lure this Trevor chap to having dinner with you while you cry to him that your unworthy boyfriend whom he met in the library a week ago has mistreated you while you try to earn his trust?"

"Pretty much. The dude has it bad for Amy." Dan said

"Not to put too fine a point on it, but don't you think that could have all been part of the ruse?" Ian continued.

"It might be," Amy said to the room, "that's a risk I'll have to take, it's our best bet to find out who hired him"

Jake was only one step away from fuming. He hated this idea. He thought it would be better to just confront him directly and if it came to punches, then so be it. The thought of Amy flirting with this traitor was alarming.

"Alright, I'm going to call Trevor. I'll call from the hallway. Since I have no hope of stopping you all from listening, just keep it down in here, ok?" Amy said, pulling her cell phone from her pocket and heading to the door.

"Ames, wait," Jake said stepping into the hall with her. "I don't like this plan; can't we just confront him head on?"

"Jake, it'll be fine. You know I love you," she said taking his hand and planting a kiss on him before turning away to make the call. Jake had no intention of making this easy on her. He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall staring at her.

"It's ringing," Amy said, turning around and seeing Jake. She turned back around and slowly started down the hall.

"Hello?" Trevor's voice sounded on the other end

Amy paused before speaking, silence for one, two, three seconds, then she gave a big sniff. "Trevor?" Amy said in her best wavering voice.

Silence as Trevor's wheels began to turn. Amy was one second away from telling him it was her when "Amy?" came back to her over the line.

"Yes, Trevor, it's me," she said in a somber tone.

"Hi! How are you? Are you OK?" he said, concerned.

"I'm ok," Amy said somberly, "well, I guess I've been better."

"W-what happened?" Trevor asked, clearly apprehensive of what she would say.

Amy sighed, she had him right where she wanted him. "Well, it's been a rough couple of weeks. My brother and I were attacked after we left the Gardner that day with you and then my boyfriend broke up with me. I guess I'm just feeling…defeated, you might say."

Trevor was silent for a bit. Amy waited to see what he would do or say. She let the silence hang in the air like a weight. Finally, Trevor spoke, "you, you, say you-were attacked? Outside-the Gardner?"

_Interesting, that is the piece he latched onto first_. He genuinely sounded horrified. Maybe they had this all wrong. Maybe Trevor didn't call in the attack. "Yes, that same day we were locked in the vault, a huge man cornered my brother and me and kicked the crap out of us. I ended up with a gash on my face from him."

Trevor was audibly trembling now, "D-d-did you both go to the police?" His voice had gotten all high and falsetto now. He was coming unglued. Amy turned and gave big eyes to Jake who had a blank expression on his face; he couldn't hear Trevor's side of the conversation. Amy motioned for him to hurry back into the comm center. Jake got the hint and disappeared behind the door.

"Yes, we did, but neither of us got a good look at the man." Amy was quiet for a minute. "Trevor, I was wondering, would you, I-I mean, if you wanted, I guess, I just thought…"

Trevor took the bait, "YES! I'd love to get together with you. How about tomorrow, at the Bistro Café across from the library?"

That wouldn't work, the others wouldn't be in until the following day. She'd need to stall.

"Actually Trevor, Jake use to take me there all the time. I sort of hate it now. And, Tuesdays are better for me than Mondays." Amy lied.

"Oh, ok, well, how about at the Gardner café, I get a discount and it's really pretty there." Trevor stumbled to get out.

Amy smiled internally, this guy was trying so hard. There is no way he was this good of an actor. "Sure, that sounds great Trevor." Amy paused again. "I look forward to seeing you," she said in her best innocent flirtatious voice.

"Yeah, yeah me too. Listen, I'm really sorry about what happened to you at the Gardner, I'll do anything to find the guys who did this to you. It's not like that normally."

"Thanks Trevor, I knew you'd be the right person to turn to." Amy said a little too sappy for her own taste. She could only imagine what was happening on the other side of this wall.

"I'll see you Tuesday, how about noon?" Trevor said excitedly, "oh and I'm sorry about your boyfriend" Trevor added as an aside.

Amy had to laugh, if he was sorry, then she was Lady Gaga. "See you Tuesday."


	29. Chapter 28

Ch 28

Tuesday arrived and plans were made. Jonah and Ham would be in the restaurant having lunch at a nearby table, already seated when Amy got there. Jake and Dan were going to be running communications from outside the museum in the Mercedes. Ian and Cara would be patrons enjoying the museum and Atticus was the closer. If anything went wrong, he was the kill switch, the emergency exit. He was staying behind in Attleboro to run communications for all of them.

Everyone had their places and Amy walked into the museum restaurant at exactly noon. She had decided to wear her normal attire, jeans, running shoes and a t-shirt. No sense doing anything out of the ordinary. Plus, Jake had assured her she looked perfect and irresistible. That had earned him an extra-long kiss that morning. He was still worried about this and he really didn't like listening in on his girlfriend flirting with another guy, but he had realized it was for the best.

She gave the room a quick scan and the hostess came up to her, but before she could speak to her, Trevor appeared from the left. His hand out and smile plastered to his face.

"Amy! Hi! You came!" Trevor said a little breathlessly.

"I did." Amy said, shyly, looking down at the ground.

"She's working it," Jonah said into his menu, giving a small smile. Jonah hadn't been spotted, probably because this crowd's average age was 50; not the typical fans that instantly recognized him.

"Eyes on the prize people, focus" Dan replied into the mic from the car. "Let her work, she's got this guy wrapped around her finger, she'll have him singing in a few minutes, tops."

Jake glared at Dan. Dan just shrugged and said, "watch and learn."

Trevor put his hand on the small of Amy's back as he pulled out her chair for her.

Amy flashed him her biggest smile, tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and said, "Thank you Trevor"

"I'm so glad you called me." Trevor said, taking his seat and opening his menu. "To be honest, I didn't think you ever would. Your boyfriend made it pretty clear he didn't like me sitting with you that day."

Perfect opening, "Well, he's gone now. He was pretty jealous and I'd had about enough of that in my life. So, we broke up." Amy studied her menu letting a silence sit between them.

"If you don't mind, could you please speed thing along?" Came Ian's voice in Amy's ear. "I have other things to do today besides wait for this banal creature to tell you what you want to know."

"Ian, shut up" came Cara's voice next.

"Trevor," Amy said, looking up from her menu and tilting her head to the side in a quizzical look, "do you have any idea who may have wanted to hurt my brother and me that day in the alley?"

Trevor looked physically sick. It was very clear he hadn't ordered anyone to hurt Amy or Dan that day. The chatter went silent, everyone waiting on Trevor's answer. He surprised Amy by reaching over and taking her hand. "Amy, I have to tell you something. I-I I don't know what happened, but I think I may be the reason you got hurt! I am _so_ sorry! When I started at the museum, the head guard told me to report to him anyone poking around, asking about the stolen works. When you and Dan started asking, I did what I was told." Trevor continued as if verbal vomit was coming up from his depths, "I found you locked in the records room upstairs and now you tell me you were attacked. It's all my fault. I'm sick about it. I barely slept the last two nights."

Amy pulled her hand away from his and stared at him with a blank expression. It wasn't hard to pretend she was angry with him. "Who was this guard?" Amy asked. "Is he the head of your security?"

"No, no, he's just one of the head guards on day shift. Victor Mencino. He's been here for years. He's well respected around here so I didn't even question his order." Trevor slumped in his seat, clearly eaten up by the guilt over what had happened to Amy.

"Got it," Dan said. "Att, are you on it?"

"I'm on it," came Atticus' reply. His fingers could be heard clicking over the keys.

"Amy you better let the guy off the hook, he's about to melt into the floor. A guy can only take so much guilt." Came Hamilton's voice.

Amy gave a barely perceptible nod. Time for Amy to come clean. Trevor was clearly a stooge, not the ring leader. "Trevor, it's OK. I'm fine, Dan is fine, we're OK. I guess I just wanted to find out who attacked us. Sounds like I need to have a talk with Victor Mencino."

Trevor's sorrow turned to wide-eyed worry. "W-what are you going to say? Are you going to confront him? Do you need me to go with you?"

"No, it's ok. It's not your fault. You were just doing your job. Although, after this, I'd hope you'd steer clear of Victor Mencino, he's messed up with something nefarious, no doubt." Amy gave him a smile. He just nodded vigorously. The poor guy looked so relieved. She made to get up. "However, I can't stay. Thank you for giving me some closure to this whole ordeal. It is good to know you weren't trying to hurt me."

Trevor's eyes got huge again and he rose, "No, of course not. I really like you Amy, I'd never do anything to hurt you. Are you sure you have to go, we haven't even ordered yet?"

"Maybe I'll see you around campus." Amy smiled and walked out of the restaurant.

"What were you able to pick up from the search?" Amy said into the earpiece the minute she was clear of Trevor's view.

Atticus replied to the group, "He's been with the museum since 1997. He's the senior security guard, right under the director. He doesn't have a criminal record and he appears to have a family here in town; wife, three kids.

"The perfect guy to have in your pocket if you needed to know who's been asking around about the robberies," Ham said as he threw a $50 on the table, gave a glance to a sad and broken Trevor still sitting at the table, and he and Jonah exited a few minutes after Amy.

Upstairs, Ian and Cara were making their way back down to the main floor where they were to rendezvous with Jonah and Ham in Jonah's rented BMW. Amy was already at the Mercedes, sliding into the back seat behind Jake and Dan. Jake gunned it and took off for Attleboro.

"Amy, I think you broke this guy," Ham said as he pushed on the revolving door of the entrance.

"She is a bit of a heartbreaker," Ian wanly said, sliding his sunglasses on to his perfect face as he hit the crisp winter New England air.

"I'll have to explain everything to him once it's all over," Amy said, feeling guilty for leading the guy on like she had.

"I'll come along and help you," Jake said, expertly steering the car through the Boston traffic.

"Atticus, do a search from Quigley O'Reilly's off shore account to a Victor Mencino." Dan piped up from the front seat.

"I'm way ahead of you." Atticus said. "There is a series of payments dating from 1997 to an account in the amount of $15,000 annually. What do you bet that's Victor's account?"

"I can trace it as soon as I get there," Cara said from the passenger seat of the BMW, about 15 blocks behind Jake.

"Ok, let's cut comms for now and meet up at the mansion when everyone gets there. Att, will you order food?" Amy said.

"Oh yeah, I'm on it!" he said enthusiastically.

Something was bothering Jake. He'd seen Ian flirt with Amy openly when they were stopping Pierce, but he had thought it was all for his benefit. Now Ian made a comment about Amy being a heartbreaker? What was that all about?

"Amy, what did Ian mean about you being a heartbreaker?" Jake asked

"Oh nothing, he just…" Amy trailed off, remembering her one kiss with Ian all those years ago.

"You know, when were at the Bieneke, he said something about your 'considerable history together'. Did you two, you know, have a thing for each other in the past?" Jake asked, eyeing her in the rear-view mirror.

Dan looked from Jake to Amy and back to Jake.

"I know! I know!" Dan said, as if he was waiting to be called on in class.

"Shut up Dan." Amy said taking the ear piece out of her ear and pocketing it. "If you must know, yes. Back a long time ago when we were on the hunt for the clues, Ian and Natalie were our main rivals. He learned that I had a crush on him. It wasn't hard to figure out, I stammered every time he came around. So, he decided to capitalize on that; a very Lucian thing to do, BTW." Amy sighed. "Anyway, we were in Korea with Uncle Alistair and we had formed a tenuous alliance with the Kabras and Ian let it slip that he had feelings for me too."

Amy looked up at the rear-view mirror, expecting Jake to look worried or jealous, but instead he had a blank expression on his face. He was just looking for information. Nothing more.

Amy continued, "Nothing ever happened, the clue hunt ended and we went back to our regular lives, or at least we tried until the Vespers showed up. I started dating Evan and you know the rest."

Jake nodded from the front seat. "Ok, that's good to know. It puts to rest a question I've had for a long time." He gave her a small smile from the front seat. "Now, can we go back to you not flirting with strangers anymore? It makes me really uncomfortable."

Amy leaned forward and wrapped her arms around the back of his seat and gave him a hug across his chest.


	30. Chapter 29

Ch 29

"You were right Atticus," Cara said, half of a sub sandwich in her hand. "That account is to a Victor Mencino. He has been on the payroll of one Quigley O'Reilly since 1997. Trevor was telling the truth."

"What do you bet that Victor has the name of that goon on speed dial?" Dan said.

"Never mind the goon, let's find Quigley O'Reilly." Amy said, swallowing a BBQ chip she had been holding.

"Cara, we know Quigley O'Reilly has an off-shore account. Is there any other information you can find on him? Bank records, aliases, marriage licenses, death certificates, anything?" Jake asked

Cara replied, "I have one idea. We are pretty certain that Antonio Marcellius is Quigley O'Reilly and that Marcellius disappeared shortly after declaring bankruptcy. Bankruptcy stays with you for many years so unless he has a death certificate, there may be a way to try and trace him through his bankruptcy. Let me work for a bit." She said, pulling up a work station and setting to work.

Over in the corner, Ham, Jonah and Ian had fallen asleep on couches designed for this very reason. They had jet-lag and it was catching up to them.

Atticus' brain was working differently than the others however. He was laser focused on his laptop in the middle of the room. His dreadlocks covering his face as the blue-LED of the screen reflected in his glasses. He was still on the location of the art. Even if they caught Antonio/Quigley, there was the small matter of where this art was hidden. Atticus was almost certain this man would have the works on display somewhere only he could see them. Where could a person hide 13 works of art for over 20 years without anyone ever seeing them? _Somewhere abandoned_, thought Att. _Bellosguardo. _There was a shocking amount on the internet about this abandoned mansion outside Santa Barbara. They had a grounds crew, but only one or two household staff. _The perfect place to store your art. On display in a beautiful location but for an audience of one_, thought Atticus. His fingers hovered over one article from the New York Times stating that ownership of the palatial mansion was about to become public under the Bellosguardo Foundation. They were going to update the home to code and hopefully open it to the public for tours within the next two years-it was going to be turned into a museum! There was an inaugural benefit banquet being offered in a week for the paltry sum of $25,000 a plate. Atticus sat back and stared at the ceiling. _Maybe it wasn't so far-fetched that the art was in this mansion._

"Amy," Atticus said softly, attracting only her attention. He motioned for her to come over. "I know you said to forget about the Bellosguardo lead, but I don't think that's such a good idea. Look at this article I found." He pointed to the screen indicating Bellosguardo's new foundation status and the benefit banquet. Amy scanned the article and bit her lip.

"It could be," Amy said, "It just seems like such a leap though. So many coincidences if that were to be the location."

"What are you talking about?" Jake asked as he pulled up a chair next to Atticus. Att and Amy filled him in on the article and Atticus' suspicions. "It could be, but, to have all this information about Hughette Clark in the news the exact week we are looking at the heist? I mean, the odds would have to be a million to one."

"I think we should at least check it out," Atticus said. "You two go undercover to that benefit dinner and then try to sneak off and explore."

Amy eyed Jake. Jake gave the world's tiniest shrug and smiled. "It would be fun, and you have the money."

"It's a $50,000 mistake if we're wrong though." Amy said, biting the inside of her cheek.

"What is a $50,000 mistake?" Dan asked walking up and putting a hand on Amy's chair.

Cara stopped typing for a moment, looked up and eyed the group. Then she leaned over and nudged Ian awake, motioning to him to wake the others and get over there.

"Atticus thinks we shouldn't be too quick to dismiss Bellosguardo as the location. They're transitioning the home to a museum and next week they are holding their inaugural benefit dinner for donors to get in on the ground floor for $25,000 a plate." Amy said. A bleary-eyed Ian, Jonah and Ham shuffled over to them and took seats nearby.

Silence, then discussion ensued all around. In the end, it was decided it was worth the risk and Jake, Amy, Ian and Cara would attend. Dan and Atticus would go with them to Santa Barbara while Jonah and Ham would stay behind in the command center during the benefit and run communications, Ham's hacker skills were pretty good.

"Now, I have some experience with this sort of event, Amy, and we'll need outfitting before we go. I'm thinking Rodeo drive and a good Tom Ford for you Jake and for Amy…" Here Ian trailed off appraising Amy from head to toe, one finger lazily tapping his chin. She began to blush as he lingered on her mid-section and chest. Ian's focus returned just in the nick of time, Amy could feel Jake getting uncomfortable again.

"I am envisioning Kiera Knightly's green frock from _Atonement_. Silk, sweeping, slit up the front and tiny straps. A pair of Louboutin's and your hair pulled to the side and you'll be a knockout."

"Wow, that's a very specific vision, Ian." Amy said nervously. Jake shook his head while standing akimbo. Everyone in the room was silent. They had all seen that movie and that green dress was famous for the scene in the library; it was cinematic legend.

"Awkward," Dan said and returned to his screen.

"What, am I wrong?" Ian asked mock-innocence in his voice.

"Aha!" Cara said, a smile spreading across her face. "Gotcha! You're good Quigley, but I'm better."

All eyes in the room turned to Cara, aka _April May_, who was in her element at the moment. She was sucking on the inside of her cheek as her fingers flew across the keys, she spoke as they worked; her eyes never leaving the screen. "I set up a trace, a mouse if you will, inside this off-shore bank account. I had to be careful because these international banks have wicked-good security but a little tiny mouse can sit for days and not be detected. I put a trace on Quigley's account and programmed it to alert me when even the slightest movement happened. On a hunch from the little one," here she nodded at Atticus who put a peace sign up to acknowledge the cred, "I also put a trace on Bellosguardo Foundation looking for any repeats. I got a hit. Quigley's money is coming from the Bellosguardo Foundation. He's good though, or whoever he uses is good. It's routed through about 6 different banks. This money is super squeaky."

"So, it is Bellosguardo?" Jake said with wide eyes looking at Amy.

Cara nodded, "If it isn't, then they're in some nefarious stuff that is very questionable."

"Oh my god! We did it!" Dan said standing with arms in the air in victory. "We have to call Anne Hawley! Then the Feds!"

"No," Amy said. "We've come this far, we are seeing this through ourselves. We can have the FBI on speed dial, but I am finding these works with my own eyes. We owe it to Bianca."

Jake looked at her and slowly began to nod his head. "It's what she would want."


	31. Chapter 30

All of them minus Jonah and Ham boarded Jonah's private jet the next morning and made their way to Santa Barbara. Ian's vision for Amy and Jake was realized when he had a private shopper make the journey up to Santa Barbara from L.A. to deliver the Balenciaga dress and Tom Ford suit. Ian had settled for a custom-made suit from _House of Bijan_, which any normal person would have found extravagant, but because Ian's tailor couldn't be flown over on such short notice, he had to settle for something 'subpar' as he put it. Ian insisted Cara have a personal shopper even though she assured him she had a closet full of benefit-worthy dresses in Boston. The shopper had shown up with a gold metallic Stella McCartney sheath dress with spaghetti straps and platinum strappy heels. They checked into the Ritz Carlton with adjoining suites in the penthouse. Cara came over and did Amy's hair and make-up for her as she had no clue how to do such things. She also needed practice to walk in her Louboutin heels; she was strictly a sneakers and sandals girl. It also gave her and Cara some much needed girl-bonding time. They talked at length about Ian and Jake, their two preferred topics. By the time they were ready, she had grown a little closer to Cara. It was nice to have more female companionship around her; she seemed to spend all of her time with boys.

When it was time, Amy and Cara met the boys in the lobby. All four of the boys' mouths were hanging open taking in Cara and Amy's drastic change. Cara was stunning as usual, but she was much more familiar with the spotlight and felt more at ease dressed like this. Amy was still getting used to her heels.

Amy zoned in on Jake's face as soon as she stepped off the last step. His eyes were blazing and he had a triumphant grin plastered across his face.

"You look amazing, Ames. Absolutely gorgeous." He said taking her hands and giving her a chaste kiss on the cheek.

_Wow_, he thought, _I have never seen her like this before. She's always gorgeous, but this just cranks it up a level. _The green of the dress matched her eyes perfectly which set off the red in her hair. The ivory skin on her décolleté was flawless and the slit up the front of her dress draped nicely as she walked, showing just the right amount of leg.

Jake glanced over at Cara who was being appreciated as eagerly by Ian. He had Cara's hands in his and his head was inclined by her left ear, no doubt whispering his appreciation of her beauty to her. She wore a shy smile. Cara was stunning. The tone-on-tone of her hair, tanned skin and gold dress was something out of a movie. She radiated like a true California sunset. Both boys were in shock at their good fortune of having two living goddesses on their arms.

Ian glanced at Jake and gave him an appreciative nod as if to say, "See? I told you."

Jake wordlessly nodded his approval, as if to say, "You were right, just this once."

Dan and Atticus walked with them to the car and passed along ear pieces to each of them. These were chosen especially by Cara for their small discrete size and sound quality.

"You won't be able to hear each other, but we can hear all of you. If you need something, just say it and we can relay to the others-just in case you get split up." Dan said. "These also have locating beacons in them that Ham is monitoring from Attleboro. He's got a schematic of the grounds and house plans so if you need directions, just ask."

"Good luck." Att added before hugging Amy, "You look so pretty, Amy."

"Thanks, Att," she said returning the hug as Jake held her door open to the front seat. Ian and Cara took the rear.

It didn't take them long to make it across the city to Bellosguardo. Search lights lit up the night sky like homing beacons. It was apparent they had gone all out for tonight's inaugural benefit. Rows and rows of luxury automobiles and limousines lined the long driveway leading up to the estate. It was truly spectacular, Amy had to admit. When it was their turn, Jake handed the keys to the valet and they made their way to the queue leading into the main entrance.

"Ok, we need to split up and try to search as much of this place as we can tonight." Jake began. "I think we ought to stay in teams though, and we can communicate through Att and Dan. Do you guys copy?"

"We hear you loud and clear, Jake," Dan replied. "You're good to go."

"We hear you too," Ham replied from Attleboro.

"Look for out-of-the-way hallways, niches or out of bounds areas. Maybe even the attic. Stay in contact at all times and report in. This place is huge, so Jake and I will take the East wing, Ian, you and Cara take the West," Amy commanded. "If you get caught, act innocent, flummoxed or feign a language barrier."

Ian rolled his eyes, "Amy, I'm pretty sure we've all got it. This isn't the first hunt for stolen items any of us have been on."

Cara and Jake just slowly nodded.

Amy looked at all three of them, "Sorry, old habit."

When they reached the reception desk, they were checked off a list and shown out into the courtyard. Champagne and hors devours were served by black-clad wait staff. Guests in tuxedos and ball gowns were milling around the English Garden grounds surrounding a reflecting pool. It was lit by fairy lights on poles. It was very romantic.

The program she had been handed showed that guests had time to mill about and meet others for another 30 minutes before the guest speaker was set to take the stage.

"Let's split up and see if we can sneak off to explore. Nobody will miss us if we leave in this crowd." Amy said.

"Agreed." Ian intoned and they set off in opposite directions to find an exit to sneak through. However, they met right back where they started exactly 10 minutes later, none of them being able to get back into the mansion.

"The doors are all being monitored by a guard," Cara said looking around fruitlessly for any unmanned door.

"They don't want guests seeing the estate before the guided tours," Jake said, taking the program from Amy and reading further into the schedule.

"Then we play along," Amy said with determination. "We act like the benefactors we've paid to be and let's hope that the guided tours are large enough that we can sneak away unnoticed."

"Ham, can you give us a rundown of the main floor and where staircases are located?" Cara said to no one in particular, in reality speaking to her mic and Hamilton Holt in Attleboro.

"You bet. The main floor has a long central hallway running east to west. You had to pass over it to get to the courtyard.  
"We remember, it ran a long way in both directions," Amy said.

"Ok, well, if you follow that hallway east, you eventually end up in the dining room, kitchen, library and a few offices I think. There is a servant's staircase on each end of the main hall. You already saw the grand staircase, right?"

"That'll be us" Amy said, indicating she and Jake would head this direction.

Ham continued, "If you head west, you get to the parlor, music room, drawing room, and a billiards room."

"Thank you, Hamilton," Ian said nodding at Cara who had her game face on.

"Is there anything about the servants' quarters or closets on that schematic that might be helpful, Ham?" Amy asked.

"There are 22 bedrooms upstairs and 9 bathrooms. There isn't a lot of room for attic space, and I don't even see access anywhere. The servants' quarters are on the west end of the house above the garage."

Jake's eyebrows arched as he mouthed _22 bedrooms_? "And I thought Grace's house was big," he said.

Cara spoke up, "We need to split up. We are the youngest people here by a long shot and the more time we spend together the more attention we are drawing to ourselves. Less target in the bullseye. Stay in touch, tell anyone what you find." And just like that she and Ian disappeared in the crowd.

"I am starting to think we need to split up too. It's easier for a single person to sneak off than both of us. I can act like I need the restroom and maybe not be monitored. The guest speaker should take the stage in a few minutes anyway." Amy said.

"I don't like that idea. If those pieces are here, I guarantee the thief will have put precautions in place to safeguard any snooping guests from accidentally finding them. It may be a trap Aim." Jake said looking furtively around him.

"Or, he's gotten complacent and thinks time and dulled memories are the only safeguards he'll need." Amy countered.

"Let's just stick together, OK?" Jake asked.

"I'm going to try the restroom, if it doesn't work, I'll come right back here. If it does, then you follow behind me in five minutes." Amy offered, already heading back toward the restroom she'd seen when she first entered. Sure enough, the reception desk woman was busy checking in the final arrivals and didn't keep too close of tabs on Amy as she made her way to the restroom. She was able to get lost in the crowd and sneak off down the East wing hallway. She tried doors until she found one open and quietly slipped inside. It was some sort of Butler's pantry. It was dark but the crack of light coming under the door was enough to illuminate the space. She slipped off her heels and hooked them around her thumb. The pantry apparently connected to the larger dining room at the back of the space and through a side door, the kitchen.

Jake had watched this whole incident transpire from the doorway to the patio. The reception desk attendant had her hands full and wasn't watching the East hallway. However, the final guests had been checked in now and his window to sneak off had closed. The atrium was empty now and the reception attendant sat idly at her station checking her phone. No way he was sneaking off the way Amy had. He had to think of another way.

In the distance, he could hear applause and the sound of someone speaking into a microphone. The event had started. Frustrated, he turned to join the crowd, his next best bet would be to join the tour. He scanned the crowd and spotted Ian and Cara near the back, holding flutes of champagne and scanning the crowd, no doubt, looking for the two of them.

"Att, tell Ian and Cara that Amy was able to sneak off and she's somewhere on the ground floor of the East wing. I couldn't follow so I'm waiting for the tour to sneak away." Jake spoke quietly as he pretended to wipe his nose to disguise his talking.

"They're on it Jake." Att responded.

Soon, the tours began. They had all been assigned a tour and they were to check in with the wait staff to find their tour number and location. They had their chance. At the first sign of movement the three of them joined tours going in the direction they had predetermined, and were off. Even though he knew he was only about 10 minutes behind Amy, it felt like a lifetime.

Jake managed to find the door he saw Amy disappear behind. He waited until the tour turned to continue down the hallway before trying the knob, but it wouldn't turn. It had been locked! Jake silently cursed and continued down the hallway.


	32. Chapter 31

Ch 31

Marcus Starling was surprised to see Cara Pierce at the fundraiser. He, of course, recognized her right away, but what she was doing with one of the Kabras, he didn't know. The way they were acting made it plain that they were lovers. _Interesting_, he thought to himself; _normally Lucians and Ekaterinas steered clear of each other_. He had come to the fundraiser for the sole purpose of seeing the magnificent home his art had been living in for the last twenty-two years. He would be afforded no other opportunity to see the grand estate again.

She wouldn't remember of course because she had only been a baby, but the Starling family had huge family reunions yearly and his distant cousin, Debi Ann, had come to them for years before marrying Rutherford Pierce. She had slowly stopped coming once she had the children and in truth, Marcus wasn't sure he had ever spoken with her but thanks to Rutherford's presidential bid last year and the ensuing debacle, she had been thrust into the media spotlight and he had followed the coverage closely.

"We might have a situation," he said barely moving his mouth as he seemingly examined his watch which was a transmitter fitted to his partner's ear.

"Agreed," echoed his partner. "I am following an infinitely curious creature who has slipped away from the tour."

"Young?" Marcus asked

"Yes, a teenager by the looks of it, and if I were guessing, I would say the same one who was poking around the Gardner last month." Antonio Marcellius replied.

"What do you want to do?" Marcus asked.

"Nothing, let them look. You know as well as I do they'll find nothing." Antonio replied from his hiding spot in the garden shed overseeing all security feed on his bank of monitors.

"There will be fingerprints and traces left behind no doubt. Enough for someone to trace back." Marcus offered.

"No, do nothing. They've been moved and are safe. Let these children look, but I am curious who they are?" Antonio mused

"I recognize two of them. I didn't see the other two. They are distant relations of mine. Very distant, but cunning and clever; not to be trifled with." Marcus responded now turning away from his tour group and pretending to do up his shoelace.

"The one I'm following looks familiar to me as well, but I can't picture where…" he said trying hard to place the amber-haired beauty in the green dress. She was being very thorough; every door opened, every closet examined, bookcases checked for hidden passages. She clearly knew how to look for the unseen.

Marcus knew that even if the art had been traced back to him somehow the statute of limitations had long passed and no criminal charges could be brought to him. Maybe because of this fact he decided to make a bold move. He was going to confront Cara Pierce.

Amy was moving stealthily through the main floor of the East Wing having gained access through the Butler's pantry. That simple unlocked door had given her access to all the rooms on the North side of the hallway and she had checked every nook and cranny possible.

_The art won't be on this floor_, she told herself. So, as quietly as possible, she waited until the coast was clear and slipped to the end of the hall and the servant's stairwell before climbing to the second floor. She could hear the guests begin their tours downstairs and she knew she had limited time before they made their way upstairs. Where was Jake? Surely, he had been able to sneak away by now?

As she tried doorknobs, she saw a figure emerge from the main stairwell and turn away from her. She had seconds to get in a room before he turned this direction. She knew it couldn't be Jake, so someone else had managed to get upstairs too. Just then, the door to her left opened and she ducked inside. It was one of the grand bedrooms with gilded furniture and ornate draperies.

"Att, Dan, where is Jake? I'm on the second floor and I might have been seen by someone, I can't tell. I'm waiting in one of the bedrooms on the South side of the house in the East wing." Amy whispered.

"He's stuck with the tour. So are Ian and Cara. They're looking, but it may be a while before they can sneak away. The guides are heading toward the servant's stairwells so they can't really get around them." Atticus responded.

"Well, tell them to figure out a way around it because once those tours get upstairs we will have lost our element of secrecy. It's hard to look for stolen works with a few hundred people milling around." Amy said sarcastically.

"I'll relay the message." Att replied.

"Amy, It's Ham. Listen, I was able to hack the _Bellosguardo_ mainframe and access the guest list. I found one name: Marcus Starling."

"WHAT?" Amy nearly shouted. "I mean, what?" she repeated in a whisper.

"It says right here, plain as day. Thought you'd like to know that."

"Thanks Ham. I wish I knew what he was doing here or even who he is. I couldn't pick him out of a line up!" Amy whispered. "Ham, you have to tell the others. We all have to be aware of his presence here tonight."

"You got it Amy!" Ham said enthusiastically.

Hearing nothing in the hallway, Amy cautiously opened the door and made her way silently down the hallway toward the servant's quarters at the other end of the mansion. She knew that's where she'd hide multi-million-dollar art if she had to. It wouldn't be anywhere fancy. Just as she was picking up speed in her bare feet across the parquet flooring, Dan spoke.

"Amy, Jake's made it away from the tour and he should be up to you shortly. Ian and Cara seem to not be responding to their comms anymore. Something is wrong."

This made Amy pause. "They're not responding?"

"No, but we know they're hearing us because we can make out snippets of conversations nearby. They're listening to someone talk, but we can't make out much of it. Cara responds, but it's hard to understand what she's talking about. We figure Ian would give us some code if they were in trouble so we think they're just electing to ignore our calls to check-in so they don't break cover." Dan said.

"Ok, keep me posted. Tell Jake I'm at the servant's quarters entrance and to meet me in there." Amy relayed and turned the knob.

"Unless I'm much mistaken, you're Cara Pierce, am I right?" Marcus Starling said sidling up next to Cara and putting his hand out.

Cara and Ian stopped short. "And you are?" Ian started

"A very distant cousin of yours, on your mother's side, of course." He continued.

"Marcus. Marcus Starling," he said extending his hand to her.

Cara's mouth had gone dry, but she extended her hand to his. Marcus squeezed it harder than necessary before turning to Ian.

"And you are?"

"Cara's date," was all Ian offered Marcus while shaking his hand.

"You probably don't remember, but we used to attend the Starling family reunions together long ago when you were just a baby. I remember your mother. We didn't run in the same circles but we were about the same age so I remember her."

Cara put a fake smile on and responded, "oh, that's, that's interesting. Huh." A million thoughts crashing around in her head all fighting to make it to the top. _What was this man doing here? Why was he so blatantly confronting them and did he even know he was a person of interest in their Cahill investigation?_

Cara decided to find out one answer to a question: "So, what brings you to this event tonight?"

Marcus' eyes shrank to near slits and a sly smile formed on his mouth, "Let's just call it, art appreciation from a long-time supporter."

Cara glanced at Ian. Had he caught that? It was as close to a confession as they may get. How had they missed the connection between Marcus Starling and Antonio Marcellius? If Marcus was here, it stood to reason that Antonio would be also. She desperately needed to get away so she could talk to Att, Dan and the others. Just then, as if it were planned, Ham's voice came through in her ear.

"Listen up everyone, I hacked the guestlist and Marcus Starling is here. He is a guest at the event tonight. That's all I know, but be on alert. He probably has no idea that he's a person of interest, but if he's an infamous art thief, then it's best not to underestimate him."

"Got it" was the only reply he got. From Jake. Nothing from Ian or Cara though he could hear them talking to someone.

Ian's mind was whirling a million miles an hour. He knew that Marcus Starling was one of the thieves, and he suspected that Marcus had been tipped off to their presence here tonight. He didn't know how he had been tipped off, but Marcus had approached them so he wasn't afraid of their presence. It also meant that he must feel comfortable enough to confront them which means the art must not be here. He didn't have any of the classic signs of anxiety: sweaty face, flushed, shaking hands or legs, unsteady voice. No, the art must have been moved, if it was ever here to begin with. They had to get a message to the others. They were walking into a potential trap.

"Shall we go for a walk perhaps and catch up, one Starling to another?" Cara asked sweetly.

"Well of course, any chance to walk with such a beauty," Marcus said.

"I'll catch up with you both," Ian started, knowing this may be the only chance to talk with the others.

"No, I insist. Walk with us 'Cara's date'." Marcus said forcibly grabbing Ian's arm and pulling him along next to him.

As soon as they were away from the group, the friendly tone of their banter died away and Marcus became laser-sharp. "I know you're a Kabra. I'm not playing this game anymore. You're Vikram's son. I don't know your name and I don't care, so spare me. Cara, I don't know how you got involved in this, but—"

As if it had been planned, both Ian and Cara attacked Marcus at the same time. He didn't stand a chance. Cara elbowed him in the gut at the exact same moment Ian brought both of his hands together above Marcus' head and brought them down on his exposed neck after he had doubled over from Cara's hit. Marcus hit the parquet floor hard. He lay unmoving.

"I love you." Ian cooed, smiling at Cara.

Cara smiled slyly back, "We make a great team."

Cara made to look for a room to stow Marcus when he made a groggy sound from the floor. "Take care of that will you, love?" Cara said over her shoulder to Ian.

"With pleasure." Ian said, kicking Marcus hard in the stomach and pulling out a pair of zip cuffs he just happened to have on him; Lucian's were always prepared for any eventuality.

Cara procured a supply closet off the laundry room and they found a rag to stuff in his mouth. While they were stowing him, they told Dan, Att and Ham what had happened.

"Where is Amy? Is she with Jake?" Ian asked, thinking of the trap that might be awaiting her. "We have to find her. Now!"


	33. Chapter 32

Ch 32

Amy turned the knob of the servant's quarters and stopped short. A middle-aged man with thinning hair, muscles and bronzed skin held a gun pointed directly at her.

"Shut the door." He said. Amy complied. She was caught off guard, she wasn't expecting anything like this. It only took her a moment to put all of the puzzle pieces together.

"You're Antonio Marcellius" she said raising her hands in surrender, knowing she had to relay as much info as possible to the others on their comms.

"Move to the end of the hallway," he said waving the gun at Amy, ignoring her statement. She complied again.

Her mind was spinning. If both Antonio and Marcus were here, then they had to be close. The added element of a loaded gun made her think that the art must be close too. Or was it? She had to get him talking.

As he flattened himself against the wall so she could walk in front of him, he gave her a prolonged sniff which sent a repulsive shiver down her spine.

Jake had to be close. She only needed a few moments to stall before he got there. Then, gun or no gun, they'd take him down as a team.

"You've moved it, haven't you?" Amy questioned. "You wouldn't have left it here tonight with all of these people around. Too risky."

"Sounds like you've already answered your own question." Marcus said, pulling a pair of zip cuffs from his own pocket. "Put your hands together above your head."

"No," Amy replied, knowing if her hands were out of the fight she'd be in trouble.

"I'll shoot you!" he growled, pressing the gun into her back.

Amy turned around. "No, you won't. You're an art historian, not a murderer. You've lovingly watched over your pieces for decades. You got away with it. No jail time awaits you, the statute of limitations has long past. You won't kill me now because it would be foolish."

"Oh, is that right?" Antonio Marcellius questioned. He lowered the gun but stepped right up to Amy now. "Then maybe I'll do something else to you then."

Amy tasted bile in her throat. She started backing away from him toward the balcony window at the end of the hall. _Where was Jake? Hurry up!_ Amy made to kick the gun out of Antonio's hand, but he was anticipating this move from her and he dodged it. He planted his own kick directly to her stomach. It knocked her backward into the window which sprang open and she stumbled out onto the small balcony surrounding each of the mansion's windows.

"You know, it took me a long time to figure out where I'd seen you before. You're all dressed up tonight, like you're going to Cinderella's ball but that's not your normal look. Normally, you're wearing jeans and sweatshirts and poking around museums after hours with your little brother, aren't you?"

Amy's face hardened, "You ordered that attack on us."

Antonio had his own hardened look, "No, that's a little below my pay grade, but I did hear about it. I've been keeping tabs on you, Amy Cahill and I have to say, I'm impressed. No wonder that boyfriend of yours likes you so much." At these words, his eyes traveled over her body as he stepped closer to her.

His gaze made her skin crawl. She was not in a good position. The balcony at her back and nowhere to go. She'd just have to fight her way out of this one. She crouched into her fighting stance.

"You gonna kick me again?" Antonio asked, "You think you're the only trained fighter? Bring it on, little girl."

Amy kicked out hard, catching him in the chest, but she didn't have the momentum she needed because of the space, and, the dress was getting in the way. As a result, he only took a single step backward and then lunged at her. He grabbed her right arm and twisted it painfully behind her back, rendering her useless. He leaned her forward over the railing, trapping her.

He leaned forward over her back so he could whisper in her ear. She could feel him pressing his whole weight on her and the revolting sensation roiled through her. He made to kick her legs apart wider, but she resisted as hard as possible, but failed.

"You're going to listen to me now. I've worked too hard to make my dream a reality to have some, Veronica Mars, take down my world." He was sniffing her neck as he said this. The pain of her right arm wrenched so far out of join was making her see stars. "You and your little friends are going to—"

But what they were 'to do' never came. A nearby door crashed open, Amy could feel Antonio go flying and her arm was released, numb tingling making its way down to her fingers. She turned to see Jake go flying across the hallway, slamming Antonio into the wall. He hauled the man up to his feet and began to pummel him across the face with his fists. Antonio was stunned and blood was gushing down his nose.

"DON'T—"

"YOU—"

"EVER—"

"TOUCH—"

"HER—"

"AGAIN!" Jake spat throwing a punch in between each word.

Antonio slumped to the floor, dazed and bleeding all over his shirt. He glanced down at his now broken nose and tried to make sense of things.

Jake rushed over to Amy, but she was just getting started. Far from scared and needing comfort, she had her own justice to dole out to the man who was going to—well, Amy didn't want to think about what would have happened if Jake hadn't been there. She methodically rifled through the known attack stances she had learned from her Sensei and picked two that would inflict the most pain. She was shaking with fury; a steely determination overcame her. Jake had never seen Amy look like this. She was out for revenge.

She walked over to Antonio, squatted down in front of him and with lightning-quick reactions, she brought the butt of her hand up and smashed into her attacker's nose. The sound that emanated from Antonio was unlike anything Jake had ever heard before.

"That, was for my brother. And this," Amy stood, raised her right foot and brought it down hard on Antonio's crotch, "is for me!"

The pain was apparently more than a human could endure because Antonio slumped, unconscious down to the floor and lay in a pool of his own blood.

"Is-, is he-?" Jake questioned, feeling for a pulse on the thief's neck.

"No, he's not dead, but he'll wish he was," Amy said.

Several things happened at once, Jake rose, turned to Amy and they threw themselves together in a deep embrace. The gravity of how close she'd come to being assaulted hit them both. Dan came through on their ear pieces frantically shouting for an update and Ian and Cara showed up in the doorway out of breath from running. In the distance, they could hear the wail of police sirens coming closer.


	34. Chapter 33

It was the longest night of any of their lives. The police took Marcus and Antonio into custody and the FBI were called in, though Antonio had to be hospitalized because of his injuries. Jake, Amy, Ian and Cara all had to go down to the police station and be questioned. Anne Hawley was called and after giving her own statement, she caught a red-eye flight from Boston to Santa Barbara. Ham, Jonah, Att and Dan hacked the security footage from the mansion and were able to pinpoint a white utility van as the likely method of removing the art and traced it as far as the airport.

The four of them shared what they had learned about Antonio, the offshore accounts, the pseudonym 'Quigley O'Reilly' which apparently was a placeholder for both Marcus and Antonio, who it turns out, knew each other in college and cooked up this scheme together 25 years ago. Neither man was cooperating and refused to give any indication of where the art was in transit.

Jake was struck with a moment of pure inspiration and gave them the address his Rome contact had provided for the address in The Hague. Dutch police were put on alert at all airports and points of entry into the country.

Finally, after 8 grueling hours with the FBI, the four of them were allowed to leave. They made their way back to the Ritz Carlton where they found Att and Dan passed out on couches with every light on; they had clearly tried to stay awake until the other 4 came back. With her last ounces of energy, Amy covered the boys with throw blankets while Jake turned off the lights and like zombies, crawled into bed as the sun began to rise.

Jake awoke sometime later. The blackout curtains in the room giving a false sense of night. Where was he? He made to sit up, but was restrained somehow. He glanced left. Amy, her cascade of beautiful hair falling across her pillow, was sprawled out on her stomach, her left arm draped across Jake's chest. Jake gave her a sleepy grin and slowly removed her arm so he could check his phone. 4:18 pm.

37 messages.

_37 messages? What? _Jake stood, pulled on some sweat pants and a t-shirt and began to look through his messages as he quietly left the bedroom.

"Good Morning, or should I say Good Afternoon?" Atticus said, smiling from behind his laptop, holding his phone with thumbs tapping busily away at a message.

"Att? Why do I have 37 messages from you?" Jake asked.

"Because a lot has been happening while you've been sleeping and I thought maybe you'd be checking them from bed." Att asked.

A door opposite the plush digs opened and Dan came into the room.

"Oh, hey! You're awake!" Dan said, coming to sit next to Jake on the sofa.

"Where are Ian and Cara?" Jake asked.

"Still sleeping. You're the first one up, as usual," Atticus said, smiling while he put his laptop on the coffee table and leaned forward. "I made coffee, if you want some. We need to get you caught up."

Atticus glanced at Dan, "We better start at the beginning. When you all came back, the FBI really took over and questioned those two crooks for hours. Marcus finally admitted they were the masterminds behind the robberies all those years ago, but they claim they didn't actually do the stealing themselves. They admitted the art was housed at Bellosguardo for years where Antonio Marcellius has been the head gardener since 1990. He claims Mrs. Clark never knew the art was at the mansion. Marcus Starling said he only ever saw the art in the first few weeks after the heist and that Antonio has been the proprietor ever since. The feds pressed for the location of the art and Antonio finally cracked and said he'd tell, but only if…"

Here Atticus glanced at Dan again and Dan's face darkened and his fists clenched. "That scum bag will only agree to give up the location if Amy will drop her assault charge against him." Dan swore under his breath.

Jake inhaled deeply through his nose and sat up straight. _So, that's the game he was going to play? Only give up the art if Amy agrees to drop assault charges against him?_ He understood now why the boys wanted to talk with him before she woke up. Jake knew what Amy would say; she was the most selfless human being he had ever met. She would say the art was the most important thing and that nothing should stop them from recovering it.

"What's going on?" came Amy's sleepy voice from the bedroom door. She squinted against the sun coming in the penthouse windows. She had on her traditional sleeping attire: cotton pants and an old faded t-shirt. Her phone was in her hand too, but apparently, she didn't have 37 texts waiting for her.

The three boys all gave each other a look before any of them responded to her. As Amy made her way over to the sitting area, Atticus jumped up and got Amy some coffee before sitting back down next to her.

Amy could tell the mood around the coffee table was somber. "Who died?" Amy said, attempting a joke.

"Here, drink this," Atticus said, handing the coffee to her.

Amy's brow furrowed. She took it in turns to study each of their faces, starting with Dan's. He was one step away from fuming, brow furrowed, eyes dark and mouth tight. Jake had a stony impassive look on his face, but what was behind that look? Fear? Pain? Something… Finally, she looked at Atticus and he gave her a flinching smile.

"What is going on? Why are the three of you acting like somebody's dog got run over?"

Atticus was the first to respond, "We have news Amy. While you've been sleeping, the Feds have been busy." He proceeded to fill her in on all of the developments of the two thieves including their admittance of guilt, where the art had been housed these last 22 years and ended with "but Antonio won't give up the location unless you drop your assault charge against him. Says it's too good a bargaining chip to lose."

Atticus said this last part quietly, reaching out his hand to Amy's.

"Oh," was all she said. Staring at the coffee table.

Jake was ready. He had come up with 6 really good reasons why she shouldn't drop them and he made to open his mouth when Amy spoke first.

"I think it's time to put out a Cahill alert. We need to find this art first. I'm not letting Antonio off that easily." Amy said taking Atticus' laptop from the table, and linking into Gideon.

"Done!" she said finishing her final sentence and hitting 'send'. "I've let the entire network know we think it may be in The Hague. It'll be found by tomorrow morning, I promise you all. If Antonio thinks I'm backing down then maybe I should break his nose again," she said fiercely. She looked up to see Jake absolutely beaming at her. She met his gaze and returned the look. He gave a quiet laugh, dropped his gaze and shook his head,

"And here I was, thinking I'd have to convince you _not_ to drop the charges." He said.

Atticus stood up, "Amy, I think you're the biggest bad ass on the planet. I admire you so much!"

The others stood too, Amy reached over for Atticus and gave him a big bear hug. The two of them just stood there for a few moments, Jake and Dan smiling.

"Thanks, Att. I think you're a pretty big bad ass, too. Maybe that's why I like you so much." Amy said, ruffling his hair and, as an afterthought, kissed his forehead.

Atticus blushed under his dark skin and his eyes grew wide. Jake just laughed, grabbing his brother in a playful headlock.

"I think we better get down to the police station and talk with Anne Hawley," Jake said releasing Atticus. Just then Ian and Cara emerged from their room, dressed and ready to go. While Jake and Amy quickly dressed, Att and Dan filled Ian and Cara in on the latest developments.

On their way to the police station, Amy checked her phone. She had asked Hamilton to contact her immediately if anything of substance came through. He was sending texts otherwise giving updates. "There's lots of hits near Schiphol. Several Cahills say they are checking the cargo planes right now."

"We'll find them, Ames, don't worry, we're so close now." Jake said giving her thigh a soft squeeze.

Since Antonio Marcellius had been so beat up, he was still in the hospital for observation. The FBI agent in charge, Phil Witkowski, met them outside his hospital room. Anne Hawley was waiting for them also. She'd had almost as long of a day as the Cahill group had and she looked it.

"Amy! Jake!" Anne Hawley called out as she saw them coming down the hallway. Agent Witkowski turned in their direction when he heard Anne speak. He ushered all of them into a small waiting room down the hall from Antonio's room. He rehashed what they already knew about the confession from Marcus, and Antonio's request for a plea deal in exchange for Amy dropping the charges.

"Amy, I hope you are not seriously considering dropping the charges?" Anne Hawley asked. "This man deserves to be locked up and off the streets. No art is worth letting him go."

"I'm not. The only reason I wanted to meet here was to talk with him."

A cacophony of protests met her ears, including the FBI agent. "You can come in with me, but nobody else," she said to him.

Amy, accompanied by Agent Witkowski, entered Antionio's room. She didn't recognize him at all. Both eyes had swollen nearly shut and his nose was fresh from surgery. His face was black and blue and had bandages around most of his head.

"I don't want her here," Antonio said.

"She has a right to confront her attacker," Agent Witkowski said blandly.

"Before you waste your breath, yes, I know about your bargaining chip and I'm not biting. At least, not yet. You probably don't know much about me, do you?" Amy asked him, her head tilted to the side.

"You got my name right yesterday, but that's all you know about me. Let me fill you in a little more. Maybe paint a picture for you: I'm rich, filthy, stinking, rich. I have more money than I know what to do with. I'm also powerful. You underestimated me in this search and it's cost you. I have a very powerful family who at this exact moment are close to finding your hidden collection. If you decide to withhold the location and I find it first, then I'm going to make your life a living hell. This trial on assault charges will go national. I'm going to spread your face across this nation on every newspaper and website. There won't be a single housewife in all of America who doesn't know that you assaulted an 18-year-old girl and, oh yeah, was also the crook who stole from the Gardner. You might be thinking, what's in it for you? So glad you asked. If you give up the location before my people find it, then you get to have a quiet trial and serve your sentence in peace and nobody knows you stole from the Gardner 22 years ago. So, you need to listen to me very closely because you have a very short window to decide." Amy spat.

Silence from Antonio, no doubt weighing his options. His 'Scott-free' option was gone. Now he only had to choose between a very public trial, or a quiet one. A ping sounded on Amy's phone. Another update from Hamilton. She thought she'd use this as leverage.

"Every one of these pings you hear is an update from my network on the ground, looking for your shipment." Amy said, raising her phone and snapping several photos of Antonio.

"What are you doing?" Agent Witkowski asked

"Getting photos for my PR agent to send to the AP, ready for tomorrow's headline." Amy said, snapping a few of herself. "Well, that's it, I guess. No decision?" she said, looking quizzically at Antonio. "Well, then, I'm sure someone will get you the newspaper each morning."

Amy turned to go and Agent Witkowski turned to follow.

"They landed a few minutes ago, Schiphol. Delta cargo from LAX." Antonio whispered.

Agent Witkowski began speaking rapidly into his hand and quickly left the room, dragging Amy out with him.

"He spilled!" Amy said with awe in her voice. "Schiphol. Just landed."

Dan whipped out his phone and began to text Hamilton in earnest. The six of them and Anne Hawley waited with baited breath to hear anything at all. FBI agents seemed to come out of the woodwork and buzzed past them on their way to somewhere important.

Amy's phone began to buzz. She answered it. "Amy? It's Ham. We found them."


	35. epilogue

Epilogue

Finals week was a busy one for Amy. Not only was she taking her first ever college final, but she had passed the SAT and finalized the move to Cambridge. It was hard saying goodbye to Grace's house. It had really felt like home this semester. It was the longest she had ever lived there and she knew she'd probably never move back in, at least, not with just Dan and herself. She made a final walk through each of the rooms as a way to say goodbye then got in the SUV and drove to her new home.

Anne Hawley along with the FBI, retrieved the stolen artwork from The Netherlands and had it re-stretched into new frames all without breathing a word to the press. Anne had asked the four of them to come to the museum after hours the night before she released the good news to the world for a private tour of the works.

Jonah, Ham, Ian, Cara, Amy, Dan, Jake and Atticus all joined Anne Hawley in the main gallery to view the first of the works. She gave a detailed history of the missing work and her joy at its return was evident. Each of them had a slightly different emotion seeing the works restored. For Amy, she was just relieved. Jake felt gratitude and a sense of joy at restoring the works his mother had so loved; he felt closer to her this way. As they moved through the museum, Amy and Jake just naturally gravitated toward each other and toward the back. As Amy looked at each of the works, she couldn't help but think of Antonio and Marcus who were looking at jail time for battery and assault charges. She didn't think either of them would serve much time, but it was a little comfort to know they finally had a criminal record. The country really did need to revise their laws on art theft; they were abysmal.

Jake sidled up next to Amy and took her hand, "you doing ok?" he said, looking sideways at her as they brought up the rear of the group.

"yeah. I think so. I'm just glad they're back home, safe and sound." Amy said, squeezing his hand. Jake had been very cautious around her physically since her assault. She got the impression he thought she was glass and could break at any moment. She needed to fix this for them. She missed their intimacy.

"Jake," Amy started, stopping in her tracks, letting the group move on to the second floor. They could catch up later. "I'm really OK with everything. The art has been restored and the thieves are getting what they deserve. All is right with me."

She ran her hands up his chest and crossed them behind his neck. She could feel the stiffness in his response.

"Amy, you've been through a lot, I just worry about you. That's all." Jake said quietly looking down at her. She let the silence sit between them. Somehow, she sensed he had more to say,

"Ames, when Dan told me that Antonio had cornered you and that I needed to get there ASAP, I panicked. All I could picture was him cutting your throat and my legs wouldn't work fast enough." Jake got quiet and he closed his eyes remembering. "But, when I finally realized where you were and I threw open that door…"

Jake squeezed his eyes shut at the memory of seeing Amy spread eagle, hand trussed up behind her back, helpless to defend herself against her attacker, his enemy leaned over her prone body, ready to perform something unmentionable to the woman he loved. His breathing quickened in his chest and worry lines formed between his eyes. He was about to have a panic attack.

Amy read these signals and put a calming hand on his cheek, "Jake, I knew you'd come. I was scared, but Dan kept telling me in my ear that you'd come. I just needed to hold out a little longer and you'd be there." She said, coaxingly, trying to get him to look at her. Finally, he opened his eyes, they were pained.

"I knew I'd be OK because you were going to annihilate this man. I was surprisingly calm all things considered." Amy said, searching his eyes. "And then you were there."

Jake's breathing had calmed down and he was looking at her with such intensity. "Amy, I don't know how to describe it. It was like I could see our entire future being pulled apart by a thread. I thought…" he looked away from her, "I thought I was going to kill Antonio. I'm serious. I wanted to murder him."

Amy hugged him tightly. "I did too Jake, but the important thing is we didn't."

"But I wanted to. I felt rage like I've never felt before. Not with the Vespers, not even with Pierce's men. This overwhelming desire to protect you came over me like nothing I've ever experienced before."

Amy felt goosebumps on her arms. She grasped his face in each of her hands and made to help him see her properly. "Listen to me Jake, that feeling, that desire to murder and protect for me. It has a name: Love. You've felt it before, just not this intense. I've felt it for Dan before and I've wanted to murder before. It doesn't make me a bad person. I just means I have loved so deeply that the thought of seeing someone I love go through pain it unbearable."

Jake nodded and pressed his forehead to hers. "Ames, ever since we've…"

"Started having sex?" Amy offered

Jake just looked at her before continuing, "I feel closer to you than any other person and I honestly don't know what I'd do if something happened to you. I know that's why I reacted the way I did. I need you Amy. I can hardly function without you now." Jake choked out these last few words.

"And I need you. I knew you'd come. I'm serious Jake, I knew you'd rescue me." Amy said, lifting her heels so she could reach his lips. She brushed her lips lightly across his and finished with a kiss on the cheek.

"I love you. I need you. I want you." Amy whispered to his ear. Jake was overcome with emotion and he simply squeezed her to him and nodded. She didn't need to hear anything else from him, he needed to be reassured and comforted which she was happy to give. He was her soul mate, there was no doubt. There was no human on the planet more in tune with her than he was. They were two halves of the same whole and this experience had taught them both that fact.

The following week, brought the news to the world that the Gardner Museum was complete once more. No mention of the Cahills or Rosenblooms was made, only that anonymous sources had helped restore the art. No mention of the thieves was made either. The extended family all came together to move Dan and Amy into the Cambridge headquarters, as it was being called. Amy had tried unsuccessfully to talk Jake and Atticus into moving in with them full time. Mark Rosenbloom had caught wind of this and put the kibosh on his son's plans; he had told Jake he was too young to be moving in with his girlfriend and he'd have plenty of time to live his life with her once post-doctoral school was finished. Jake didn't argue, but he silently moved the timeline up about 5 years. Jake had plans of his own, and it didn't involve waiting until he was 29 to ask Amy to be his wife.

Mark Rosenbloom surprised everyone by announcing that he and LaCher Sifright were going to be married the following spring. The news was bittersweet. He deserved to be happy, but he could tell Atticus was struggling with the idea. _I'll talk with him over break, I'll help him see things from Dad's point of view_, Jake thought. Losing your mother was hard enough, but watching your dad remarry was a different level of heartbreak.

After the final box had been brought into the house, Jake turned to Amy, "So, that's it then. You're official Cambridge residents now. Harvard, here you come!"

Amy had to smile. "Cambridge residents maybe, moved in, no." She said looking around, boxes stacked four-deep labeled 'kitchen'. Dan and Atticus had given up on trying to unpack and had gone off to watch a late-night screening of the new Spiderman movie. Amy and Jake had the house to themselves.

"You know, I'm pretty sure your mattress is set up…" Jake said with a sidelong glance at her.

"And so is the shower." Amy said giving him a look and pulling her shirt off over her head as she walked out of the kitchen toward the staircase, Jake hot on her heels.


End file.
